arXiv subjects

T. J. Pearson

Publications and source records attributed to T. J. Pearson.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv2002

Constraints on Cosmological Parameters from the Analysis of the Cosmic Lens All Sky Survey Radio-Selected Gravitational Lens Statistics

We derive constraints on cosmological parameters and the properties of the lensing galaxies from gravitational lens statistics based on the final Cosmic Lens All Sky Survey (CLASS) data. For a flat universe with a classical cosmological constant, we find that the present matter fraction of the critical density is $Ω_{\rm m}=0.31^{+0.27}_{-0.14}$ (68%) $^{+0.12}_{-0.10}$ (systematic). For a flat universe with a constant equation of state for dark energy $w = p_x({pressure})/ρ_x({energy density})$, we find $w < -0.55^{+0.18}_{-0.11}$ (68%).

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arXiv2002

Cosmological Parameters from CMB measurements with the CBI

We derive cosmological parameters from the CBI measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) angular power spectrum. Our results provide an independent confirmation of the standard $Ω_{\rm tot}=1$ $Λ$CDM model within the adiabatic, inflationary paradigm. Above $\ell=2000$ the observations show evidence of power in excess of that expected in the standard models. We use hydrodynamical simulations to show how Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect (SZE) may account for the excess power for models with fluctuation amplitude $σ_8\sim 1$ which is in the high end of the range allowed by the primary CMB observations.

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arXiv2002

Experiment Design and First Season Observations with the Degree Angular Scale Interferometer

We describe the instrumentation, experiment design and data reduction for the first season of observations with the Degree Angular Scale Interferometer (DASI), a compact microwave interferometer designed to measure anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) on degree and sub-degree scales (l=100--900). The telescope was deployed at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole research station during the 1999--2000 austral summer and conducted observations of the CMB throughout the following austral winter. In its first season of observations, DASI has mapped CMB fluctuations in 32 fields, each 3.4 deg across, with high sensitivity.

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arXiv2002

DASI First Results: A Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Angular Power Spectrum

We present measurements of anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from the first season of observations with the Degree Angular Scale Interferometer (DASI). The instrument was deployed at the South Pole in the austral summer 1999--2000, and made observations throughout the following austral winter. We have measured the angular power spectrum of the CMB in the range 100<l<900 with high signal-to-noise. In this paper we review the formalism used in the analysis, in particular the use of constraint matrices to project out contaminants such as ground and point source signals, and to test for correlations with diffuse foreground templates. We find no evidence of foregrounds other than point sources in the data, and find a maximum likelihood temperature spectral index beta = -0.1 +/- 0.2 (1 sigma), consistent with CMB. We detect a first peak in the power spectrum at l approx 200, in agreement with previous experiments. In addition, we detect a peak in the power spectrum at l approx 550 and power of similar magnitude at l approx 800 which are consistent with the second and third harmonic peaks predicted by adiabatic inflationary cosmological models.

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arXiv2002

A Fast Gridded Method for the Estimation of the Power Spectrum of the CMB from Interferometer Data with Application to the Cosmic Background Imager

We describe an algorithm for the extraction of the angular power spectrum of an intensity field, such as the cosmic microwave background (CMB), from interferometer data. This new method, based on the gridding of interferometer visibilities in the aperture plane followed by a maximum likelihood solution for bandpowers, is much faster than direct likelihood analysis of the visibilities, and deals with foreground radio sources, multiple pointings, and differencing. The gridded aperture-plane estimators are also used to construct Wiener-filtered images using the signal and noise covariance matrices used in the likelihood analysis. Results are shown for simulated data. The method has been used to determine the power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background from observations with the Cosmic Background Imager, and the results are given in companion papers.

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arXiv2001

The Cosmic Background Imager

Design and performance details are given for the Cosmic Background Imager (CBI), an interferometer array that is measuring the power spectrum of fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) for multipoles in the range 400 < l < 3500. The CBI is located at an altitude of 5000 m in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. It is a planar synthesis array with 13 0.9-m diameter antennas on a 6-m diameter tracking platform. Each antenna has a cooled, low-noise receiver operating in the 26-36 GHz band. Signals are cross-correlated in an analog filterbank correlator with ten 1 GHz bands. This allows spectral index measurements which can be used to distinguish CMBR signals from diffuse galactic foregrounds. A 1.2 kHz 180-deg phase switching scheme is used to reject cross-talk and low-frequency pick-up in the signal processing system. The CBI has a 3-axis mount which allows the tracking platform to be rotated about the optical axis, providing improved (u,v) coverage and a powerful discriminant against false signals generated in the receiving electronics. Rotating the tracking platform also permits polarization measurements when some of the antennas are configured for the orthogonal polarization.

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arXiv2001

The new two-image gravitational lens system CLASS B2319+051

We report the discovery of a new two-image gravitational lens system from the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey, CLASS B2319+051. Radio imaging with the Very Large Array (VLA) and Multi-Element Radio-Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) shows two compact components with a flux density ratio of 5:1, separated by 1.36 arcsec. Observations with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) resolve each of the radio components into a pair of parity-reversed subcomponents. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations with the Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) show a bright elliptical galaxy (G1) coincident with the radio position, and a second irregular galaxy (G2) 3.4 arcsec to the northwest. Previous spectroscopic studies have indicated that these galaxies are at different redshifts: z(G1) = 0.624, z(G2) = 0.588. Infrared counterparts to the lensed radio components are not detected in the NICMOS image, and the source redshift has not yet been determined. Preliminary mass modeling based on the VLBA subcomponent data indicates that the lensing potential includes a strong external shear contribution. A VLA monitoring program is currently being undertaken to measure the differential time delay.

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arXiv2001

First Intrinsic Anisotropy Observations with the Cosmic Background Imager

We present the first results of observations of the intrinsic anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation with the Cosmic Background Imager from a site at 5080 m altitude in northern Chile. Our observations show a sharp decrease in C_l in the range l=400 - 1500. The broadband amplitudes we have measured are deltaT(band) = 58.7 (-6.3, +7.7) microK for l = 603 (-166, +180) and 29.7 (-4.2, +4.8) microK for l = 1190 (-224, +261), where these are half-power widths in l. Such a decrease in power at high l is one of the fundamental predictions of the standard cosmological model, and these are the first observations which cover a broad enough l range to show this decrease in a single experiment. The C_l we have measured enable us to place limits on the density parameter, Omega(tot) <= 0.4 or $Omega(tot) >= 0.7 (90% confidence).

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arXiv2001

Limits on the cosmological abundance of supermassive compact objects from a search for multiple imaging in compact radio sources

Using Very Long Baseline Interferometry we have searched a sample of 300 compact radio sources for examples of multiple imaging produced by gravitational lensing; no multiple images were found with separations in the angular range 1.5--50 milliarcsec. This null result allows us to place a limit on the cosmological abundance of intergalactic supermassive compact objects in the mass range $\sim 10^{6}$ to $\sim 10^{8}$M$_{\odot}$; such objects cannot make up more than $\sim 1%$ of the closure density (95% confidence). A uniformly distributed population of supermassive black holes forming soon after the Big Bang do not, therefore, contribute significantly to the dark matter content of the Universe.

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arXiv2001

Preliminary Results from the Cosmic Background Imager

The Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) is a 13-element interferometer designed to image intrinsic anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) on arcminute scales. A review of the capabilities of the instrument is presented, together with a discussion of observations which have been taken over the past 9 months from the Atacama desert of Chile. We present preliminary high-resolution mosaiced images of the CMB obtained from recent CBI data and discuss topics which the CBI will address in the near future.

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arXiv2000

The Cosmic Background Imager

The Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) is an instrument designed to make images of the cosmic microwave background radiation and to measure its statistical properties on angular scales from about 3 arc minutes to one degree (spherical harmonic scales from l ~ 4250 down to l ~ 400). The CBI is a 13-element interferometer mounted on a 6 meter platform operating in ten 1-GHz frequency bands from 26 GHz to 36 GHz. The instantaneous field of view of the instrument is 45 arcmin (FWHM) and its resolution ranges from 3 to 10 arcmin; larger fields can be imaged by mosaicing. At this frequency and resolution, the primary foreground is due to discrete extragalactic sources, which are monitored at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory and subtracted from the CBI visibility measurements. The instrument has been making observations since late 1999 of both primordial CMB fluctuations and the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect in clusters of galaxies from its site at an altitude of 5080 meters near San Pedro de Atacama, in northern Chile. Observations will continue until August 2001 or later. We present preliminary results from the first few months of observations.

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arXiv2000

A Measurement of Anisotropy in the Cosmic Microwave Background on 7-22 Arcminute Scales

We report a measurement of anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) on 7-22 arcminute scales. Observations of 36 fields near the North Celestial Pole (NCP) were made at 31.7 and 14.5 GHz, using the 5.5-meter and 40-meter telescopes at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) from 1993 to 1996. Multi-epoch VLA observations at 8.5 and 15 GHz allow removal of discrete source contamination. After point-source subtraction, we detect significant structure, which we identify with emission from a combination of a steep-spectrum foreground and the CMBR. The foreground component is found to correlate with IRAS 100 micron dust emission. Lack of H-alpha emission near the NCP suggests that this foreground is either high-temperature thermal bremsstrahlung (T_e ~ 10^6 K), flat-spectrum synchrotron or an exotic component of dust emission. On the basis of low-frequency maps of the NCP, we can restrict the spectral index of the foreground to beta >= -2.2. Although the foreground signal dominates at 14.5 GHz, the extracted CMBR component contributes 88\% of the variance at 31.7 GHz, yielding an rms fluctuation amplitude of 82^{+12.1}_{-9.1} microKelvin, including 4.3% calibration uncertainty and 12% sample variance (68% confidence). The equivalent broadband amplitude is dT_{l_e} = 59^{+8.6}_{-6.5} microKelvin at l_e = 589. This measurement, when combined with small angular-scale upper limits obtained at the OVRO, indicates that the CMBR angular power spectrum decreases between l ~ 600 and l ~ 2000 and is consistent with flat cosmological models.

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arXiv2000

A New Quadruple Gravitational Lens System: CLASS B0128+437

High resolution MERLIN observations of a newly-discovered four-image gravitational lens system, B0128+437, are presented. The system was found after a careful re-analysis of the entire CLASS dataset. The MERLIN observations resolve four components in a characteristic quadruple-image configuration; the maximum image separation is 542 mas and the total flux density is 48 mJy at 5 GHz. A best-fit lens model with a singular isothermal ellipsoid results in large errors in the image positions. A significantly improved fit is obtained after the addition of a shear component, suggesting that the lensing system is more complex and may consist of multiple deflectors. The integrated radio spectrum of the background source indicates that it is a GigaHertz-Peaked Spectrum (GPS) source. It may therefore be possible to resolve structure within the radio images with deep VLBI observations and thus better constrain the lensing mass distribution.

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arXiv2000

CLASS B0739+366: A new two-image gravitational lens system

We present the discovery of CLASS B0739+366, a new gravitational lens system from the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey. Radio imaging of the source with the Very Large Array (VLA) shows two compact components separated by $0\farcs54$, with a flux density ratio of $\sim$ 6:1. High-resolution follow-up observations using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) at 1.7 GHz detect weak, parity-reversed jet emission from each of the radio components. Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS F160W observations detect infrared counterparts to the lensed images, as well as an extended object between them which we identify as the lensing galaxy. Redshifts for the galaxy and lensed source have not yet been obtained. For typical lens and source redshifts of $z=0.5$ and $z=1.5$, respectively, preliminary mass modeling predicts a time delay of $\sim7h^{-1}$ days in a flat $Ω_{M}=1.0$ universe. The small predicted time delay and weak radio components will make CLASS B0739+366 a challenging target for Hubble constant determination.

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arXiv2000

CLASS B0827+525: `Dark lens' or binary radio-loud quasar?

We present radio, optical, near-infrared and spectroscopic observations of the source B0827+525. We consider this source as the best candidate from the Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey (CLASS) for a `dark lens' system or binary radio-loud quasar. The system consists of two radio components with somewhat different spectral indices, separated by 2.815 arcsec. VLBA observations show that each component has substructure on a scale of a few mas. A deep K-band exposure with the W.M.Keck-II Telescope reveals emission near both radio components. The K-band emission of the weaker radio component appears extended, whereas the emission from the brighter radio component is consistent with a point source. Hubble Space Telescope F160W-band observations with the NICMOS instrument confirms this. A redshift of 2.064 is found for the brighter component, using the LRIS instrument on the W.M.Keck-II Telescope. The probability that B0827+525 consists of two unrelated compact flat-spectrum radio sources is ~3%, although the presence of similar substructure in both component might reduce this. We discuss two scenarios to explain this system: (i) CLASS B0827+525 is a `dark lens' system or (ii) B0827+525 is a binary radio-loud quasar. B0827+525 has met all criteria that thus far have in 100% of the cases confirmed a source as an indisputable gravitational lens system. Despite this, no lens galaxy has been detected with m_F160W<=23 mag. Hence, we might have found the first binary radio-loud quasar. At this moment, however, we feel that the `dark lens' hypothesis cannot yet be fully excluded.

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arXiv2000

Kinematic Age Estimates for 4 Compact Symmetric Objects from the Pearson-Readhead Survey

Based on multi-epoch observations at 15 and 43 GHz with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) we detect significant angular expansions between the two hot spots of 4 Compact Symmetric Objects (CSOs). From these relative motions we derive kinematic ages of between 300 and 1200 years for the radio emission. These ages lend support to the idea that CSOs are produced in a recent phase of activity. These observations also allow us to study the evolution of the hot spots dynamically in individual sources. In all 4 sources the hot spots are separating along the source axis, but in 1031+567 the tip of one hot spot appears to be moving almost orthogonally to the source axis. Jet components, seen in 3 of the 4 sources observed, are found to be moving relativistically outward from the central engines towards the more slowly moving hot spots.

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arXiv1999

Measuring H_0 with CLASS B1608+656: The Second Season of VLA Monitoring

The four-component gravitational lens CLASS B1608+656 has been monitored with the VLA for two seasons in order to search for time delays between the components. These time delays can be combined with mass models of the lens system to yield a measurement of H_0. The component light curves show significantly different behavior in the two observing seasons. In the first season the light curves have maximum variations of ~5%, while in the second season the components experienced a nearly monotonic ~40% decrease in flux. We present the time delays derived from a joint analysis of the light curves from the two seasons.

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arXiv1999

A Determination of H_0 with the CLASS Gravitational Lens B1608+656: I. Time Delay Measurements with the VLA

We present the results of a program to monitor the four-image gravitational lens B1608+656 with the VLA. The system was observed over a seven month period from 1996 October to 1997 May. The 64 epochs of observation have an average spacing of 3.6~d. The light curves of the four images of the background source show that the flux density of the background source has varied at the ~5% level. We measure time delays in the system based on common features that are seen in all four light curves. The three independent time delays in the system are found to be Delta t_{BA} = 31 +/- 7~d, Delta t_{BC} = 36 +/- 7~d, and Delta t_{BD} = 76^{+9}_{-10}~d at 95% confidence. This is the first gravitational lens system for which three independent time delays have been measured. A companion paper presents a mass model for the lensing galaxy which correctly reproduces the observed image positions, flux density ratios, and time delay ratios. The last condition is crucial for determining H_0 with a four-image lens. We combine the time delays with the model to obtain a value for the Hubble constant of H_0 = 59^{+8}_{-7} km/s/Mpc at 95% confidence (statistical) for (Omega_M, Omega_{Lambda}) = (1,0). In addition, there is an estimated systematic uncertainty of +/- 15 km/s/Mpc from uncertainties in modeling the radial mass profiles of the lensing galaxies. The value of H_0 presented in this paper is comparable to recent measurements of H_0 from the gravitational lenses 0957+561, PG1115+080, B0218+357, and PKS1830-211.

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