Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: We present a survey of ∼800 deg 2 of the galactic plane observed with the QUaD telescope. The primary products of the survey are maps of Stokes I , Q , and U parameters at 100 and 150 GHz, with spatial resolution of 5' and 3 5, respectively. Two regions are covered, spanning approximately 245°–295° and 315°–5° in the galactic longitude l and −4° < b < +4° in the galactic latitude b . At 0 02 square pixel size, the median sensitivity is 74 and 107 kJy sr −1 at 100 GHz and 150 GHz respectively in I , and 98 and 120 kJy sr −1 for Q and U . In total intensity, we find an average spectral index of α = 2.35 ± 0.01(stat) ± 0.02(sys) for | b | ⩽ 1°, indicative of emission components other than thermal dust. A comparison to published dust, synchrotron, and free–free models implies an excess of emission in the 100 GHz QUaD band, while better agreement is found at 150 GHz. A smaller excess is observed when comparing QUaD 100 GHz data to the WMAP five-year W band; in this case, the excess is likely due to the wider bandwidth of QUaD. Combining the QUaD and WMAP data, a two-component spectral fit to the inner galactic plane (| b | ⩽ 1°) yields mean spectral indices of α s = −0.32 ± 0.03 and α d = 2.84 ± 0.03; the former is interpreted as a combination of the spectral indices of synchrotron, free–free, and dust, while the second is largely attributed to the thermal dust continuum. In the same galactic latitude range, the polarization data show a high degree of alignment perpendicular to the expected galactic magnetic field direction, and exhibit mean polarization fraction 1.38 ± 0.08(stat) ± 0.1(sys)% at 100 GHz and 1.70 ± 0.06(stat) ± 0.1(sys)% at 150 GHz. We find agreement in polarization fraction between QUaD 100 GHz and the WMAP W band, the latter giving 1.1% ± 0.4%.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Authors: T. Culverhouse, P. Ade, J. Bock, M. Bowden, M. L. Brown, G. Cahill, P. G. Castro, S. E. Church, R. Friedman, K. Ganga, W. K. Gear, S. Gupta, J. R. Hinderks, J. Kovac, A. E. Lange, E. Leitch, S. J. Melhuish, Y. Memari, J. A. Murphy, A. Orlando, R. Schwarz, C. O' Sullivan, L. Piccirillo, C. Pryke, N. Rajguru, B. Rusholme, A. N. Taylor, K. L. Thompson, A. H. Turner, E. Y. S. Wu, and M. Zemcov
Institutions: University of Chicago, Cardiff University, California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, University of Cambridge, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, University of Lisbon, Royal Observatory, University of Edinburgh, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire AstroParticule et Cosmologie, Université Paris Diderot, Goddard Space Flight Center, Harvard University, University of Manchester, University College London
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: Center for Cosmological Physics, Extragalactic Astronomy and Cosmology at Edinburgh, Collaborative Research: Next Generation CMB Polarization Measurements with the QUEST Experiment on DASI, Collaborative Research: Next Generation CMB Polarization Measurements with the QUEST Experiment on DASI, Collaborative Research: Next Generation CMB Polarization Measurements withthe QUEST Experiment on DASI
OpenAlex ID: W2138846966