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1.
We look for a non-Gaussian signal in the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP ) 5-year temperature anisotropy maps by performing a needlet-based data analysis. We use the foreground-reduced maps obtained by the WMAP team through the optimal combination of the W, V and Q channels, and perform realistic non-Gaussian simulations in order to constrain the non-linear coupling parameter f NL. We apply a third-order estimator of the needlet coefficients skewness and compute the  χ2  statistics of its distribution. We obtain  −80 < f NL < 120  at 95 per cent confidence level, which is consistent with a Gaussian distribution and comparable to previous constraints on the non-linear coupling. We then develop an estimator of f NL based on the same simulations and we find consistent constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity. We finally compute the three-point correlation function in needlet space: the constraints on f NL improve to  −50 < f NL < 110  at 95 per cent confidence level.  相似文献   

2.
The universal baryonic mass fraction  (Ωb/Ωm)  can be sensitively constrained using X-ray observations of galaxy clusters. In this paper, we compare the baryonic mass fraction inferred from measurements of the cosmic microwave background with the gas mass fractions ( f gas) of a large sample of clusters taken from the recent literature. In systems cooler than 4 keV, f gas declines as the system temperature decreases. However, in higher temperature systems, f gas( r 500) converges to  ≈(0.12 ± 0.02)( h /0.72)−1.5  , where the uncertainty reflects the systematic variations between clusters at r 500. This is significantly lower than the maximum-likelihood value of the baryon fraction from the recently released Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP ) 3-yr results. We investigate possible reasons for this discrepancy, including the effects of radiative cooling and non-gravitational heating, and conclude that the most likely solution is that Ωm is higher than the best-fitting WMAP value (we find  Ωm= 0.36+0.11−0.08  ), but consistent at the 2σ level. Degeneracies within the WMAP data require that σ8 must also be greater than the maximum likelihood value for consistency between the data sets.  相似文献   

3.
We present a new general procedure for determining a given set of quantities. To this end, we define a certain statistic, which we call 'modified  χ2' (χ2M)  , because of its similarity to the standard  χ2  . The terms of this  χ2M  are made up of the fluctuations of an unbiased estimator of some statistical quantities and certain weights. Only the diagonal terms of the covariance matrix appear explicitly in our statistic, while the full covariance matrix (and not its inverse) is included implicitly in the calculation of the weights. Choosing these weights, we may obtain, through minimizing  χ2M  , the estimator that provides the minimum rms, either for those quantities or for the parameters on which these quantities depend. In this paper, we describe our method in the context of cosmic microwave background experiments, in order to obtain either the statistical properties of the maps or the cosmological parameters. The test here is constructed out of some estimator of the two-point correlation function at different angles. For the problem of one-parameter estimation, we show that our method has the same power as the maximum-likelihood method. We have also applied this method to Monte Carlo simulations of the COBE -DMR data, as well as to the actual 4-yr data, obtaining consistent results with previous analyses. We also provide a very good analytical approximation to the distribution function of our statistic, which could also be useful in other contexts.  相似文献   

4.
We use the very large Millennium Simulation of the concordance Λ cold dark matter cosmogony to calibrate the bias and error distribution of Timing Argument estimators of the masses of the Local Group and of the Milky Way. From a large number of isolated spiral–spiral pairs similar to the Milky Way/Andromeda system, we find the interquartile range of the ratio of timing mass to true mass to be a factor of 1.8, while the 5 and 95 per cent points of the distribution of this ratio are separated by a factor of 5.7. Here, we define true mass as the sum of the 'virial' masses, M 200, of the two dominant galaxies. For present best values of the distance and approach velocity of Andromeda, this leads to a median likelihood estimate of the true mass of the Local Group of  5.27 × 1012 M⊙  or  log  M LG/M⊙= 12.72  , with an interquartile range of [12.58, 12.83] and a 5–95 per cent range of [12.26, 13.01]. Thus, a 95 per cent lower confidence limit on the true mass of the Local Group is  1.81 × 1012 M⊙  . A timing estimate of the Milky Way's mass based on the large recession velocity observed for the distant satellite Leo I works equally well, although with larger systematic uncertainties. It gives an estimated virial mass for the Milky Way of  2.43 × 1012 M⊙  with a 95 per cent lower confidence limit of  0.80 × 1012 M⊙  .  相似文献   

5.
We test the consistency of estimates of the non-linear coupling constant f NL using non-Gaussian cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps generated by the method described in the work of Liguori, Matarrese & Moscardini. This procedure to obtain non-Gaussian maps differs significantly from the method used in previous works on the estimation of f NL. Nevertheless, using spherical wavelets, we find results in very good agreement with Mukherjee & Wang, showing that the two ways of generating primordial non-Gaussian maps give equivalent results. Moreover, we introduce a new method for estimating the non-linear coupling constant from CMB observations by using the local curvature of the temperature fluctuation field. We present both Bayesian credible regions (assuming a flat prior) and proper (frequentist) confidence intervals on f NL, and discuss the relation between the two approaches. The Bayesian approach tends to yield lower error bars than the frequentist approach, suggesting that a careful analysis of the different interpretations is needed. Using this method, we estimate   f NL=−10+270−260  at the 2σ level (Bayesian) and   f NL=−10+310−270  (frequentist). Moreover, we find that the wavelet and the local curvature approaches, which provide similar error bars, yield approximately uncorrelated estimates of f NL and therefore, as advocated in the work of Cabella et al., the estimates may be combined to reduce the error bars. In this way, we obtain   f NL=−5 ± 85  and   f NL=−5 ± 175  at the 1σ and 2σ level respectively using the frequentist approach.  相似文献   

6.
We have observed the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) effect in a sample of five moderate-redshift clusters with the Ryle Telescope, and used them in conjunction with X-ray imaging and spectral data from ROSAT and ASCA to measure the Hubble constant. This sample was chosen with a strict X-ray flux limit using both the Bright Cluster Sample and the Northern ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) cluster catalogues to be well above the surface brightness limit of the RASS, and hence to be unbiased with respect to the orientation of the cluster. This controls a major potential systematic effect in the SZ/X-ray method of measuring H 0. Taking the weighted geometric mean of the results and including the main sources of error, namely the noise in the SZ measurement, the uncertainty in the X-ray temperatures and the unknown ellipticity and substructure of the clusters, we find   H 0= 59+10−9 (random)+8−7(systematic) km s−1 Mpc−1  assuming a standard cold dark matter model with  ΩM= 1.0, ΩΛ= 0.0  or   H 0= 66+11−10 +9−8 km  s−1 Mpc−1  if  ΩM= 0.3, ΩΛ= 0.7  .  相似文献   

7.
We combine in a single framework the two complementary benefits of  χ2  template fits and empirical training sets used e.g. in neural nets:  χ2  is more reliable when its probability density functions (PDFs) are inspected for multiple peaks, while empirical training is more accurate when calibration and priors of query data and training set match. We present a  χ2  empirical method that derives PDFs from empirical models as a subclass of kernel regression methods, and apply it to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5 sample of >75 000 quasi-stellar objects, which is full of ambiguities. Objects with single-peak PDFs show <1 per cent outliers, rms redshift errors <0.05 and vanishing redshift bias. At   z > 2.5  , these figures are two times better. Outliers result purely from the discrete nature and limited size of the model, and rms errors are dominated by the intrinsic variety of object colours. PDFs classed as ambiguous provide accurate probabilities for alternative solutions and thus weights for using both solutions and avoiding needless outliers. E.g. the PDFs predict 78.0 per cent of the stronger peaks to be correct, which is true for 77.9 per cent of them. Redshift incompleteness is common in faint spectroscopic surveys and turns into a massive undetectable outlier risk above other performance limitations, but we can quantify residual outlier risks stemming from size and completeness of the model. We propose a matched  χ2  error scale for noisy data and show that it produces correct error estimates and redshift distributions accurate within Poisson errors. Our method can easily be applied to future large galaxy surveys, which will benefit from the reliability in ambiguity detection and residual risk quantification.  相似文献   

8.
Using a sample of almost 7000 strong Mg  ii absorbers with   W 0 > 1 Å  and  0.4 < z < 2.2  detected in the SDSS DR4 data set, we investigate the gravitational lensing and dust extinction effects they induce on background quasars. After carefully quantifying several selection biases, we isolate the reddening effects as a function of redshift and absorber rest equivalent width, W 0. We find the amount of dust to increase with cosmic time as  τ( z ) ∝ (1 + z )−1.1±0.4  , following the evolution of cosmic star density or integrated star formation rate. We measure the reddening effects over a factor of 30 in E ( B − V ) and we find that  τ∝ ( W 0)1.9±0.1  , providing us with an important scaling for theoretical modelling of metal absorbers. We also measure the dust-to-metal ratio and find it similar to that of the Milky Way. In contrast to previous studies, we do not detect any gravitational magnification by Mg  ii systems. We measure the upper limit  μ < 1.10  and discuss the origin of the discrepancy. Finally, we estimate the fraction of absorbers missed due to extinction effects and show that it rises from 1 to 50 per cent in the range  1 < W 0 < 6 Å  . We parametrize this effect and provide a correction for recovering the intrinsic  ∂ N /∂ W 0  distribution.  相似文献   

9.
We report the serendipitous discovery of a flare star observed with the ROSAT X-ray observatory. From optical spectra, which show strong and variable emission lines of the hydrogen Balmer series and neutral helium, we classify this object as a M3.0Ve star, and estimate a distance of 52 pc from published photometry. Owing to the close proximity of the star (13.6 arcmin) to the calibration source and RS CVn binary AR Lacertae, long-term X-ray coverage is available in the ROSAT archive (∼50 h spanning 6.5 yr). Two large flare events occurred early in the mission (1990 June–July), and the end of a third flare was detected in 1996 June. One flare, observed with the Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC), had a peak luminosity L X=1.1×1030 erg s−1, an e-folding rise time of 2.2 h and a decay time of 7 h. This decay time is one of the longest detected on a dMe star, providing evidence for the possibility of additional heating during the decay phase. A large High Resolution Imager (HRI) flare (peak L X=2.9×1030 erg s−1) is also studied. The 'background' X-ray emission is also variable – evidence for low-level flaring or microflaring. We find that 59 per cent of the HRI counts and 68 per cent of the PSPC counts are caused by flares. At least 41 per cent of the HRI exposure time and 47 per cent of the PSPC are affected by detectable flare enhancement.  相似文献   

10.
Theoretical electron density sensitive line ratios   R 1– R 6  of Si  x soft X-ray emission lines are presented. We found that these line ratios are sensitive to electron density n e, and the ratio R 1 is insensitive to electron temperature T e. For reliable determination of the electron density of laboratory and astrophysical plasmas, atomic data, such as electron impact excitation rates, are very important. Our results reveal that the discrepancy of the line ratios from different atomic data calculated with the distorted wave (DW) approximation and the R-matrix method is up to 19 per cent at   n e= 2 × 108 cm−3  . We applied the theoretical intensity ratio R 1 to the Low Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (LETGS) spectrum of the solar-like star Procyon. By comparing the observed value (1.29) with the theoretical calculation, the derived electron density n e is  2.6 × 108 cm−3  , which is consistent with that derived from  (C  v < 8.3 × 108 cm−3)  . When the temperature structure of the Procyon corona is taken into account, the derived electron density increases from   n e= 2.6 × 108  to  2.8 × 108 cm−3  .  相似文献   

11.
Many of the current anomalies reported in the WMAP text ( WMAP ) one-year data disappear after 'correcting' for the best-fitting embedded Bianchi type VII h component, albeit assuming no dark energy component. We investigate the effect of this Bianchi correction on the detections of non-Gaussianity in the WMAP data that we previously made using directional spherical wavelets. We confirm that the deviations from Gaussianity in the kurtosis of spherical Mexican hat wavelet coefficients are eliminated once the data are corrected for the Bianchi component, as previously discovered by Jaffe et al. This is due to the reduction of the cold spot at Galactic coordinates  ( l , b ) = (209°, −57°)  , which Cruz et al. claimed to be the sole source of non-Gaussianity introduced in the kurtosis. Our previous detections of non-Gaussianity observed in the skewness of spherical wavelet coefficients are not reduced by the Bianchi correction. Indeed, the most significant detection of non-Gaussianity made with the spherical real Morlet wavelet at a significant level of 98.4 per cent remains (using a very conservative method to estimate the significance). Furthermore, we perform preliminary tests to determine if foregrounds or systematics are the source of this non-Gaussian signal, concluding that it is unlikely that these factors are responsible. We make our code to simulate Bianchi-induced temperature fluctuations publicly available.  相似文献   

12.
We have conducted a submillimetre mapping survey of faint, gravitationally lensed sources, where we have targeted 12 galaxy clusters and additionally the New Technology Telescope (NTT) Deep Field. The total area surveyed is 71.5 arcmin2 in the image plane; correcting for gravitational lensing, the total area surveyed is 40 arcmin2 in the source plane for a typical source redshift z ≈ 2.5. In the deepest maps, an image plane depth of 1σ rms ∼0.8 mJy is reached. This survey is the largest survey to date to reach such depths. In total 59 sources were detected, including three multiply imaged sources. The gravitational lensing makes it possible to detect sources with flux density below the blank field confusion limit. The lensing-corrected fluxes range from 0.11 to 19 mJy. After correcting for multiplicity, there are 10 sources with fluxes <2 mJy of which seven have submJy fluxes, doubling the number of such sources known. Number counts are determined below the confusion limit. At 1 mJy, the integrated number count is  ∼104 deg−2  , and at 0.5 mJy it is  ∼2 × 104 deg−2  . Based on the number counts, at a source plan flux limit of 0.1 mJy, essentially all of the 850-μm background emission has been resolved. The dominant contribution (>50 per cent) to the integrated background arises from sources with fluxes S 850 between 0.4 and 2.5 mJy, while the bright sources S 850 > 6 mJy contribute only 10 per cent.  相似文献   

13.
Higher Criticism (HC) has been proposed by Donoho & Jin as an effective statistic to detect deviations from Gaussianity. Motivated by the success of the Bianchi VIIh model in addressing many of the anomalies observed in the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP ) data (Jaffe et al.), we present calculations in real and in wavelet space of the HC statistic of the Bianchi-corrected WMAP first-year data. At the wavelet scale of 5°, the HC of the WMAP map drops from a value above the 99 per cent confidence level (c.l.) to a value below the 68 per cent CL when corrected by the Bianchi template. An important property of the HC statistic is its ability to locate the pixels that account for the deviation from Gaussianity. The analysis of the uncorrected WMAP data pointed to a cold spot in the Southern hemisphere, centred at   l ∼ 209°, b ∼−57°  . The HC of the Bianchi-corrected map indicates that this spot remains prominent, albeit at a level completely consistent with Gaussian statistics. Consequently, it is debatable how much emphasis should be placed on this residual feature, but we consider the effect of modestly increasing the scaling of the template. A factor of only 1.2 renders the spot indistinguishable from the background level, with no noticeable impact on the results published in Jaffe et al. for the low- l anomalies, large-scale power asymmetry or wavelet kurtosis. A trivial interpretation would be that the Bianchi template may require a small enhancement of power on scales corresponding to the wavelet scale of 5°.  相似文献   

14.
The assumption of the Gaussianity of primordial perturbations plays an important role in modern cosmology. The most direct test of this hypothesis consists of testing the Gaussianity of cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps. Counting the pixels with the temperatures in given ranges and thus estimating the one-point probability function of the field is the simplest of all the tests. Other usually more complex tests of Gaussianity generally use a great deal of the information already contained in the probability function. However, the most interesting outcome of such a test would be the signal of non-Gaussianity independent of the probability function. It is shown that the independent information has purely morphological character i.e. it depends on the geometry and topology of the level contours only. As an example we discuss in detail the quadratic model   v = u + α ( u 2-1)  ( u is a Gaussian field with   u¯ =0  and  〈 u 2〉=1  , α is a parameter) that may arise in slow-roll or two-field inflation models. We show that in the limit of small amplitude α the full information about the non-Gaussianity is contained in the probability function. If other tests are performed on this model they simply recycle the same information. A simple procedure allowing us to assess the sensitivity of any statistics to the morphological information is suggested. We provide an analytic estimate of the statistical limit for detecting the quadratic non-Gaussianity α c as a function of the map size in the ideal situation when the scale of the field is resolved. This estimate is in a good agreement with the results of the Monte Carlo simulations of 2562 and 10242 maps. The effect of resolution on the detection quadratic non-Gaussianity is also briefly discussed.  相似文献   

15.
Using eight dark matter haloes extracted from fully self-consistent cosmological N -body simulations, we perform microlensing experiments. A hypothetical observer is placed at a distance of 8.5 kpc from the centre of the halo measuring optical depths, event durations and event rates towards the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud. We simulate 1600 microlensing experiments for each halo. Assuming that the whole halo consists of massive astronomical compact halo objects (MACHOs),   f = 1.0  , and a single MACHO mass is   m M= 1.0 M⊙  , the simulations yield mean values of  τ= 4.7+5.0−2.2× 10−7  and  Γ= 1.6+1.3−0.6× 10−6  events star−1 yr−1. We find that triaxiality and substructure can have major effects on the measured values so that τ and Γ values of up to three times the mean can be found. If we fit our values of τ and Γ to the MACHO collaboration observations, we find   f = 0.23+0.15−0.13  and   m M= 0.44+0.24−0.16  . Five out of the eight haloes under investigation produce f and m M values mainly concentrated within these bounds.  相似文献   

16.
In large spheroidal stellar systems, such as elliptical galaxies, one invariably finds a  106–109 M⊙  supermassive black hole at their centre. In contrast, within dwarf elliptical galaxies one predominantly observes a  105–107 M⊙  nuclear star cluster. To date, few galaxies have been found with both types of nuclei coexisting and even less have had the masses determined for both central components. Here, we identify one dozen galaxies housing nuclear star clusters and supermassive black holes whose masses have been measured. This doubles the known number of such hermaphrodite nuclei – which are expected to be fruitful sources of gravitational radiation. Over the host spheroid (stellar) mass range  108–1011 M⊙  , we find that a galaxy's nucleus-to-spheroid (baryon) mass ratio is not a constant value but decreases from a few per cent to ∼0.3 per cent such that  log[( M BH+ M NC)/ M sph]=−(0.39 ± 0.07) log[ M sph/1010 M⊙]− (2.18 ± 0.07)  . Once dry merging commences and the nuclear star clusters disappear, this ratio is expected to become a constant value.
As a byproduct of our investigation, we have found that the projected flux from resolved nuclear star clusters is well approximated with Sérsic functions having a range of indices from ∼0.5 to ∼3, the latter index describing the Milky Way's nuclear star cluster.  相似文献   

17.
A directional spherical wavelet analysis is performed to examine the Gaussianity of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP ) 1-yr data. Such an analysis is facilitated by the introduction of a fast directional continuous spherical wavelet transform. The directional nature of the analysis allows us to probe orientated structure in the data. Significant deviations from Gaussianity are detected in the skewness and kurtosis of spherical elliptical Mexican hat and real Morlet wavelet coefficients for both the WMAP and Tegmark, de Oliveira-Costa & Hamilton foreground-removed maps. The previous non-Gaussianity detection made by Vielva et al. using the spherical symmetric Mexican hat wavelet is confirmed, although their detection at the 99.9 per cent significance level is only made at the 95.3 per cent significance level using our most conservative statistical test. Furthermore, deviations from Gaussianity in the skewness of spherical real Morlet wavelet coefficients on a wavelet scale of 550 arcmin (corresponding to an effective global size on the sky of ∼26° and an internal size of ∼3°) at an azimuthal orientation of 72°, are made at the 98.3 per cent significance level, using the same conservative method. The wavelet analysis inherently allows us to localize on the sky those regions that introduce skewness and those that introduce kurtosis. Preliminary noise analysis indicates that these detected deviation regions are not atypical and have average noise dispersion. Further analysis is required to ascertain whether these detected regions correspond to secondary or instrumental effects, or whether in fact the non-Gaussianity detected is due to intrinsic primordial fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background.  相似文献   

18.
We present an analysis of four off-axis ROSAT Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) observations of the Perseus cluster of galaxies (Abell 426). We detect the surface brightness profile to a radius of 80 arcmin (∼2.4 h−150 Mpc) from the X-ray peak. The profile is measured in various sectors and in three different energy bands. First, a colour analysis highlights a slight variation of N H over the region, and cool components in the core and in the eastern sector. We apply the β-model to the profiles from different sectors and present a solution to the, so-called, β-problem. The residuals from an azimuthally-averaged profile highlight extended emission both in the east and in the west, with estimated luminosities of about 8 and 1 ×1043 erg s−1, respectively. We fit several models to the surface brightness profile, including the one obtained from the Navarro, Frenk &38; White potential. We obtain the best fit with the gas distribution described by a power law in the inner, cooling region and a β-model for the extended emission. Through the best-fitting results and the constraints from the deprojection of the surface brightness profiles, we define the radius where the overdensity inside the cluster is 200 times the critical value, r 200, at 2.7 h−150 Mpc. Within 2.3  h−150 Mpc (0.85 r 200), the total mass in the Perseus cluster is 1.2 × 1015 M⊙ and its gas fraction is about 30 per cent.  相似文献   

19.
We present CCD photometry in the Johnson U , B and V and Kron–Cousins I passbands for the open cluster NGC 2587. The sample consists of 4406 stars reaching down to   V ∼ 21.0  . We developed a new method to clean statistically the colour–magnitude diagrams. NGC 2587 appears to be a sparse, relatively bright open cluster, with a few tens of members projected on to a populous star field. The comparatively bright F7/8 II type star HD 70927, located close to the cluster centre, seems not to be a member. Our analysis suggests that NGC 2587 is slightly younger than the Hyades and probably of solar metallicity. A cluster radius of roughly 8 arcmin was estimated from the radial stellar density profile. From 18 probable cluster members with measured proper motions, we derive the following mean values for NGC 2587:  μα=−4.3 ± 3.6 mas yr−1  and  μδ=−2.5 ± 3.4 mas yr−1  . Adopting the theoretical metal content   Z = 0.02  , which provides the best global fit, we derive a cluster age of  500+60−50  . Simultaneously, colour excesses   E ( B − V ) = 0.10  and   E ( V − I ) = 0.15  and an apparent distance modulus of   V − MV = 12.50  are obtained. The interstellar extinction in the cluster direction is found to follow the normal law. NGC 2587 is located at a distance of (2.70 ± 0.70) kpc from the Sun and ∼9.8 kpc from the Galactic centre.  相似文献   

20.
We use accurate absolute proper motions and Two-Micron All-Sky Survey   Ks   -band apparent magnitudes for 364 Galactic RR Lyrae variables to determine the kinematical parameters of the Galactic RR Lyrae population and constrain the zero-point of the   Ks   -band period–luminosity relation for these stars via statistical parallax. We find the mean velocities of the halo- and thick-disc RR Lyrae populations in the solar neighbourhood to be  [ U 0(Halo), V 0(Halo), W 0(Halo)]= (−12 ± 10, −217 ± 9, −6 ± 6) km s−1  and  [ U 0(Disc), V 0(Disc), W 0(Disc)]= (−15 ± 7, −44 ± 7, −25 ± 5) km s−1  , respectively, and the corresponding components of the velocity-dispersion ellipsoids,  [σ VR (Halo), σ V θ(Halo), σ W (Halo)]= (167 ± 9, 86 ± 6, 78 ± 5) km s−1  and  [σ VR (Disc), σ V θ(Disc), σ W (Disc)]= (55 ± 7, 44 ± 6, 30 ± 4) km s−1  , respectively. The fraction of thick-disc stars is estimated at  0.25 ± 0.03  . The corrected infrared period–luminosity relation is     , implying a Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) distance modulus of  18.27 ± 0.08  and a solar Galactocentric distance of  7.58 ± 0.40 kpc  . Our results suggest no or slightly prograde rotation for the population of halo RR Lyraes in the Milky Way.  相似文献   

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