Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userTentative Detection of the Cosmic Infrared Background at 2.2 and 3.5 microns Using Ground Based and Space Based Observations
217
0
0.0
(
0
)
Authors
V. Gorjian
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
The Cosmic InfraRed Background (CIRB) is the sum total of the redshifted and reprocessed short wavelength radiation from the era of galaxy formation, and hence contains vital information about the history of galactic evolution. One of the main problems associated with estimating an isotropic CIRB in the near infrared (1-5 microns) is the unknown contribution from stars within our own galaxy. The optimal observational window to search for a background in the near-IR is at 3.5 microns since that is the wavelength region where the other main foreground, the zodiacal dust emission, is the least. It is not possible to map out the entire 3.5 micron sky at a resolution which will accurately estimate the flux from stars. However, since the CIRB is presumably isotropic, it can potentially be detected by selecting a smaller field and imaging it at good resolution to estimate the stellar intensity. We selected a 2x2 degree dark spot near the North Galactic Pole which had the least intensity at 3.5 microns after a zodiacal light model was subtracted from the all-sky maps generated by the Diffuse InfraRed Background Experiment (DIRBE). The measured total intensity of the few bright stars in this field was combined with a model for the contribution from dimmer stars and subtracted from the zodi-subtracted DIRBE map. The contribution from the interstellar medium was also subtracted leaving a residual intensity at 2.2 microns of: 16.4+/-4.4 kJy/sr or 22.4+/-6 nW/m^2/sr, and at 3.5 microns: 12.8+/-3.8 kJy/sr or 11+/-3.3 nW/m^2/sr. [Abridged]
rate research
Read More
We compare data from the Diffuse InfraRed Background Experiment (DIRBE) on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite to the the Wainscoat et al. (1992) model of the infrared sky. The model is first compared with broadband K (2.2 microns) star counts. Its success at K gives credence to its physical approach which is extrapolated to the L band (3.5 microns). We have analyzed the histograms of the pixel by pixel intensities in the 2.2 and 3.5 micron maps from DIRBE after subtracting the zodiacal light. The shape of these histograms agrees quite well with the histogram shape predicted using the Wainscoat et al. model of the infrared sky, but the predicted histograms must be displaced by a constant intensity in order to match the data. This shift is the cosmic infrared background, which is 16.9+/-4.4 kJy/sr or 23.1+/-5.9 nW/m^2/sr at 2.2 microns, and 14.4+/-3.7 kJy/sr or 12.4+/-3.2 nW/m^2/sr at 3.5 microns.
Jupiters banded structure undergoes strong temporal variations, changing the visible and infrared appearance of the belts and zones in a complex and turbulent way due to physical processes that are not yet understood. In this study we use ground-based 5-$mu$m infrared data captured between 1984 and 2018 by 8 different instruments mounted on the Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii and on the Very Large Telescope in Chile to analyze and characterize the long-term variability of Jupiters cloud-forming region at the 1-4 bar pressure level. The data show a large temporal variability mainly at the equatorial and tropical latitudes, with a smaller temporal variability at mid-latitudes. We also compare the 5-$mu$m-bright and -dark regions with the locations of the visible zones and belts and we find that these regions are not always co-located, specially in the southern hemisphere. We also present Lomb-Scargle and Wavelet Transform analyzes in order to look for possible periodicities of the brightness changes that could help us understand their origin and predict future events. We see that some of these variations occur periodically in time intervals of 4-8 years. The reasons of these time intervals are not understood and we explore potential connections to both convective processes in the deeper weather layer and dynamical processes in the upper troposphere and stratosphere. Finally we perform a Principal Component analysis to reveal a clear anticorrelation on the 5-$mu$m brightness changes between the North Equatorial Belt and the South Equatorial Belt, suggesting a possible connection between the changes in these belts.
We use the SCUBA-2 submillimeter camera mounted on the JCMT to obtain extremely deep number counts at 450 and 850um. We combine data on two cluster lensing fields, A1689 and A370, and three blank fields, CDF-N, CDF-S, and COSMOS, to measure the counts over a wide flux range at each wavelength. We use statistical fits to broken power law representations to determine the number counts. This allows us to probe to the deepest possible level in the data. At both wavelengths our results agree well with the literature in the flux range over which they have been measured, with the exception of the 850um counts in CDF-S, where we do not observe the counts deficit found by previous single-dish observations. At 450um, we detect significant counts down to ~1mJy, an unprecedented depth at this wavelength. By integrating the number counts above this flux limit, we measure 113.9^{+49.7}_{-28.4} Jydeg^{-2} of the 450um extragalactic background light (EBL). The majority of this contribution is from sources with S_450um between 1-10mJy, and these sources are likely to be the ones that are analogous to the local luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs). At 850um, we measure 37.3^{+21.1}_{-12.9} Jydeg^{-2} of the EBL. Because of the large systematic uncertainties on the COBE measurements, the percentage of the EBL we resolve could range from 48%-153% (44%-178%) at 450 (850)um. Based on high-resolution SMA observations of around half of the 4sigma 850um sample in CDF-N, we find that 12.5^{+12.1}_{-6.8}% of the sources are blends of multiple fainter sources. This is a low multiple fraction, and we find no significant difference between our original SCUBA-2 850um counts and the multiplicity corrected counts.
Telescope and detector developments continuously enable deeper and more detailed studies of astronomical objects. Larger collecting areas, improvement in dispersion and detector techniques, and higher sensitivities allow detection of more molecules in a single observation, at lower abundances, resulting in better constraints of the targets physical and chemical conditions. Improvements on current telescopes, and not to mention future observatories, both in space and on the ground, will continue this trend, ever improving our understanding of the Universe. Planetary exploration missions carry instrumentation to unexplored areas, and reveal details impossible to observe from the Earth by performing in-situ measurements. Space based observatories allow observations of object at wavelength ranges absorbed by the Earths atmosphere. The depth of understanding from all of these studies can be greatly enhanced by combining observations: ground-based and space-based, low-resolution and high-resolution, local and global-scale, similar observations over a broader or different spectra range, or by providing temporal information through follow-ups. Combined observations provide context and a broader scope of the studied object, and in this white paper, we outline a number of studies where observations are synergistically applied to increase the scientific value of both datasets. Examples include atmospheric studies of Venus, Mars, Titan, comets, Jupiter, as well as more specific cases describing synergistic studies in the Juno mission, and ground-based radar studies for near Earth objects. The examples aim to serve as inspiration for future synergistic observations, and recommendations are made based on the lessons learned from these examples.
The large size of the time ordered data of cosmic microwave background experiments presents challenges for mission planning and data analysis. These issues are particularly significant for Antarctica- and space-based experiments, which depend on satellite links to transmit data. We explore the viability of reducing the time ordered data to few bit numbers to address these challenges. Unlike lossless compression, few bit digitisation introduces additional noise into the data. We present a set of one, two, and three bit digitisation schemes and measure the increase in noise in the cosmic microwave background temperature and polarisation power spectra. The digitisation noise is independent of angular scale and is well-described as a constant percentage of the original detector noise. Three bit digitisation increases the map noise level by < 2%, while reducing the data volume by a factor of ten relative to 32-bit floats. Extreme digitisation is a promising strategy for upcoming experiments.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
