arXiv subjects

S. Torres

Publications and source records attributed to S. Torres.

69 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2004

Extended Mosaic Observations with the Cosmic Background Imager

Two years of microwave background observations with the Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) have been combined to give a sensitive, high resolution angular power spectrum over the range 400 < l < 3500. This power spectrum has been referenced to a more accurate overall calibration derived from WMAP. The data cover 90 deg^2 including three pointings targeted for deep observations. The uncertainty on the l > 2000 power previously seen with the CBI is reduced. Under the assumption that any signal in excess of the primary anisotropy is due to a secondary Sunyaev-Zeldovich anisotropy in distant galaxy clusters we use CBI, ACBAR, and BIMA data to place a constraint on the present-day rms mass fluctuation sigma_8. We present the results of a cosmological parameter analysis on the l < 2000 primary anisotropy data which show significant improvements in the parameters as compared to WMAP alone, and we explore the role of the small-scale cosmic microwave background data in breaking parameter degeneracies.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2004

Monte Carlo simulations of the halo white dwarf population

The interpretation of microlensing results towards the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) still remains controversial. Whereas white dwarfs have been proposed to explain these results and, hence, to contribute significantly to the mass budget of our Galaxy, there are as well several constraints on the role played by white dwarfs. In this paper we analyze self-consistently and simultaneously four different results, namely, the local halo white dwarf luminosity function, the microlensing results reported by the MACHO team towards the LMC, the results of Hubble Deep Field (HDF) and the results of the EROS experiment, for several initial mass functions and halo ages. We find that the proposed log-normal initial mass functions do not contribute to solve the problem posed by the observed microlensing events and, moreover, they overproduce white dwarfs when compared to the results of the HDF and of the EROS survey. We also find that the contribution of hydrogen-rich white dwarfs to the dynamical mass of the halo of the Galaxy cannot be more than $\sim 4%$.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2001

On the White Dwarf distances to Galactic Globular Clusters

We analyze in detail various possible sources of systematic errors on the distances of globular clusters derived by fitting a local template DA white dwarf sequence to the cluster counterpart (the so-called WD-fitting technique). We find that the unknown thickness of the hydrogen layer of white dwarfs in clusters plays a non negligible role. For reasonable assumptions - supported by the few sparse available observational constraints - about the unknown mass and thickness of the hydrogen layer for the cluster white dwarfs, a realistic estimate of the systematic error on the distance is within +-0.10 mag. However, particular combinations of white dwarf masses and envelope thicknesses - which at present cannot be excluded a priori - could produce larger errors. Contamination of the cluster DA sequence by non-DA white dwarfs introduces a very small systematic error of about -0.03 mag in the Mv/(V-I) plane, but in the Mv/(B-V) plane the systematic error amounts to ~ +0.20 mag. Contamination by white dwarfs with helium cores should not influence appreciably the WD-fitting distances. Finally, we obtain a derivative D((m-M)v)/D(E(B-V))~ -5.5 for the WD-fitting distances, which is very similar to the dependence found when using the Main Sequence fitting technique.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

A New Radio Continuum Survey of the Sky at 1465 MHz between declinations -52 degrees and +68 degrees

We have mapped the total sky brightness at 1465 MHz in two adjacent 60-degree declination bands with the portable 5.5-m parabolic reflector of the Galactic Emission Mapping (GEM) project, an on-going international collaboration to survey the radio continuum of the sky in decimeter and centimeter wavelengths. The observations were conducted from two locations, one in the USA and the other in Brazil, using a novel instrumental approach to overcome the well-known shortcomings of survey experiments. Our strategy consists of a 1-rpm rotating dish to circularly scan the sky at 30 degrees from zenith. The dish uses a rim-halo to re-direct the spillover sidelobes of its backfire helical feed toward the sky and the entire assembly has been enclosed inside a wire mesh ground shield in order to minimize and level out the contamination from the ground. The diffraction characteristics of this set-up have been succesfully modelled and undesired systematic striping across the observed bands has been carefully removed by a baseline propagation method which exploits the time-forward and time-backward intersections of the circular scans. The map displays nearly 300 hours of our best quality data taken with a HPBW of 5.4 degrees at a sensitivity of 20 mK.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Spillover and diffraction sidelobe contamination in a double-shielded experiment for mapping Galactic synchrotron emission

We have analyzed observations from a radioastronomical experiment to survey the sky at decimetric wavelengths along with feed pattern measurements in order to account for the level of ground contamination entering the sidelobes. A major asset of the experiment is the use of a wire mesh fence around the rim-halo shielded antenna with the purpose of levelling out and reducing this source of stray radiation for zenith-centered 1-rpm circular scans. We investigate the shielding performance of the experiment by means of a geometric diffraction model in order to predict the level of the spillover and diffraction sidelobes in the direction of the ground. Using 408 MHz and 1465 MHz feed measurements, the model shows how a weakly-diffracting and unshielded antenna configuration becomes strongly-diffracting and double-shielded as far-field diffraction effects give way to near-field ones. Due to the asymmetric response of the feeds, the orientation of their radiation fields with respect to the secondary must be known a priori before comparing model predictions with observational data. By adjusting the attenuation coefficient of the wire mesh the model is able to reproduce the amount of differential ground pick-up observed during test measurements at 1465 MHz.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1998

Monte Carlo simulations of the disk white dwarf population

In order to understand the dynamical and chemical evolution of our Galaxy it is of fundamental importance to study the local neighborhood. White dwarf stars are ideal candidates to probe the history of the solar neighborhood, since these ``fossil'' stars have very long evolutionary time-scales and, at the same time, their evolution is relatively well understood. In fact, the white dwarf luminosity function has been used for this purpose by several authors. However, a long standing problem arises from the relatively poor statistics of the samples, especially at low luminosities. In this paper we assess the statistical reliability of the white dwarf luminosity function by using a Monte Carlo approach.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1998

The halo white dwarf population

Halo white dwarfs can provide important information about the properties and evolution of the galactic halo. In this paper we compute, assuming a standard IMF and updated models of white dwarf cooling, the expected luminosity function, both in luminosity and in visual magnitude, for different star formation rates. We show that a deep enough survey (limiting magnitude > 20) could provide important information about the halo age and the duration of the formation stage. We also show that the number of white dwarfs produced using the recently proposed biased IMFs cannot represent a large fraction of the halo dark matter if they are constrained by the presently observed luminosity function. Furthermore, we show that a robust determination of the bright portion of the luminosity function can provide strong constraints on the allowable IMF shapes.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1997

The Signature of the Negative Curvature of the Universe in CMB Maps

The geodesics followed by cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons show different behaviours depending on the geometry of space. Namely, the effect of `mixing geodesics' predicts a distinct signature in CMB maps: threshold-independent elongated anisotropy spots in negatively curved geometries. We have found statistically significant sign for spot elongation in the COBE four year maps. This can be a direct indication for the negative curvature of the Universe.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1996

Testing the effect of geodesic mixing with COBE data to Reveal the Curvature of the Universe

When considering the statistical properties of a bundle of cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons propagating through space, the effect of `mixing geodesics' appears with a distinct signature that depends on the geometry of space. In a Universe with negative curvature this effect is expected to produce elongated anisotropy spots on CMB maps. We used COBE-DMR data to look for such effect. Based on the analysis of a measure of eccentricity of hot spots it appears that there is a clear indication of an excess eccentricity of hot spots with respect to that expected from noise alone. This result must be interpreted with caution as this effect can be due in part to galactic emission. If the detected eccentricity of anisotropy spots can be attributed to the effect of mixing it implies the negative curvature of the Universe and a value of $Ω< 1$.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1996

The GEM Project: an International Collaboration to Survey Galactic Radiation Emission

The GEM (Galactic Emission Mapping) project is an international collaboration established with the aim of surveying the full sky at long wavelengths with a multi-frequency radio telescope. A total of 745 hours of observation at 408 MHz were completed from an Equatorial site in Colombia. The observations cover the celestial band $0^h < α< 24^h$, and $-24^{\circ} \ 22^{\prime} < δ< +35^{\circ} \ 37^{\prime}$. Preliminary results of this partial survey will be discussed. A review of the instrumental setup and a $\sim 10^{\circ}$ resolution sky map at 408 MHz is presented.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1995

Peak statistics on COBE maps

We perform the stastistics of temperature maxima and minima in COBE-DMR 2-year maps. For power-law spectra the surface distribution of peaks implies an amplitude consistent with more conventional analyses of COBE data (for instance, we get $Q_{\rm rms-PS}=17\pm 3\ μ$K for a spectral index $% n=1),$ but not with the measured quadrupole $Q_{\rm rms}=6\pm 3\ μ$K. This provides further support for the existence an infrared cutoff in the cosmic spectrum.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1995

Omega from the COBE-DMR anisotropy maps

We have made a likelihood statistical analysis of the angular correlations in the {\it COBE}-DMR two-year sky maps by Monte Carlo simulation of the temperature fluctuations. We assume an open universe and consider as primordial power spectrum the Harrison-Zeldovich one, $P(k)=Ak$. We find that the flatness of the universe is not implied by the data. The quadrupole normalization amplitude, $Q_{rms-PS}$, is related to the density parameter, $Ω$, by $Q_{rms-PS} = 10.67 + 55.81 Ω- 128.59 Ω^2 + 81.26 Ω^3\ μ$K. We have determined the p.d.f. of $Ω$ due to cosmic plus sampling (i.e. $20^\circ$ galactic cut) variance which generically shows a bimodal shape. The uncertainty as given by the r.m.s. is $\approx 0.35$, therefore to better constrain $Ω$ experiments sensitive to higher multipoles ($l>20$) should be considered.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1995

Genus and spot density in the COBE DMR first year anisotropy maps

A statistical analysis of texture on the {\it COBE}-DMR first year sky maps based on the genus and spot number is presented. A generalized $χ^2$ statistic is defined in terms of ``observable'' quantities: the genus and spot density that would be measured by different cosmic observers. This strategy together with the use of Monte Carlo simulations of the temperature fluctuations, including all the relevant experimental parameters, represent the main difference with previous analyses. Based on the genus analysis we find a strong anticorrelation between the quadrupole amplitude $Q_{rms-PS}$ and the spectral index $n$ of the density fluctuation power spectrum at recombination of the form $Q_{rms-PS}= 22.2 \pm 1.7 - (4.7 \pm 1.3) \times n\ μ$K for fixed $n$, consistent with previous works. The result obtained based on the spot density is consistent with this $Q_{rms-PS} (n)$ relation. In addition to the previous results we have determined, using Monte Carlo simulations, the minimum uncertainty due to cosmic variance for the determination of the spectral index with the genus analysis. This uncertainty is $δn\approx 0.2$.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1994

Analysis of Spots in the COBE DMR First Year Anisotropy Maps

After the detection of structure in the microwave sky, the characterization of the observed features may be a useful guide to current and future experiments. The first year COBE-DMR sky maps were analyzed in order to identify the most significant hot and cold spots. The statistical significance of potential spots of cosmic origin was evaluated with Monte Carlo simulations. The area, eccentricity, and location of the most significant spots are given.

astro-ph↗

arXiv1993

The power spectrum implied by COBE and the matter correlation function

A phenomenological power spectrum of primordial density perturbations has been constructed by using both COBE data to probe the large wavelength region, and a double power law, locally deduced from galaxy catalogs, which describes the matter correlation function up to tens of Megaparsec. The shape of the spectrum P(k) of density fluctuations exhibits a peak that singles out a characteristic wavelength proportional to the cutoff radius R0 in the matter distribution (comparable to the distance at which matter becomes anticorrelated). {}From a least squares fit to COBE's angular correlation function we obtain R0 = 35 +- 12 Mpc/h for the correlation length, and n = 0.76 +- 0.3 for the spectral index of P(k) in the large wavelength region. The inferred scale in the spectrum is 51 +- 18 Mpc/h. This number agrees with that derived from the analysis of the correlation function of matter and with a preferred scale identified in IRAS PSC.

astro-ph↗