The purpose of our study is to understand the mathematical origin in real space of modulated and damped sinusoidal peaks observed in cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropies. We use the theory of the Fourier transform to connect localized f
eatures of the two-point correlation function in real space to oscillations in the power spectrum. We also illustrate analytically and by means of Monte Carlo simulations the angular correlation function for distributions of filled disks with fixed or variable radii capable of generating oscillations in the power spectrum. While the power spectrum shows repeated information in the form of multiple peaks and oscillations, the angular correlation function offers a more compact presentation that condenses all the information of the multiple peaks into a localized real space feature. We have seen that oscillations in the power spectrum arise when there is a discontinuity in a given derivative of the angular correlation function at a given angular distance. These kinds of discontinuities do not need to be abrupt in an infinitesimal range of angular distances but may also be smooth, and can be generated by simply distributing excesses of antenna temperature in filled disks of fixed or variable radii on the sky, provided that there is a non-null minimum radius and/or the maximum radius is constrained.
AIMS. The amplitude and scaleheight of the Galactic gas disc density are not axisymmetric against expectations in a self-gravity axisymmetric disc. However, this lopsidedness can be explained in terms of intergalactic accretion flows, which produce n
on-axisymmetric pressure on the disc. This mechanism could be also responsible for the formation of a warp. METHODS. We analytically derive the relationship between the disc density and the self-gravity and external pressure. RESULTS. The same scenario of accretion as we proposed years ago to explain the formation of the warp explains the azimuthal dependence of the density and its scaleheight, with minimum/maximum in the positions of maximum amplitude of the warp (phi=95 deg. and 275 deg.), as expected from its pressure distribution.
CONTEXT. Hydrodynamical cosmological simulations predict flows of the intergalactic medium along the radial vector of the voids, approximately in the direction of the infall of matter at the early stages of the galaxy formation. AIMS. These flows m
ight be detected by analysing the dependence of the warp amplitude on the inclination of the galaxies at the shells of the voids with respect to the radial vector of the voids. This analysis will be the topic of this paper. METHODS. We develop a statistical method of analysing the correlation of the amplitude of the warp and the inclination of the galaxy at the void surface. This is applied to a sample of 97 edge-on galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Our results are compared with the theoretical expectations, which are also derived in this paper. RESULTS. Our results allow us to reject the null hypothesis (i.e., the non-correlation of the warp amplitude and the inclination of the galaxy with respect to the void surface) at 94.4% C. L., which is not conclusive. The absence of the radial flows cannot be excluded at present, although we can put a constraint on the maximum average density of baryonic matter of the radial flows of <rho_b> <~ 4 Omega_b rho_crit.
The accretion of the intergalactic medium onto the gaseous disc is used to explain the generation of galactic warps. A cup-shaped distortion is expected, due to the transmission of the linear momentum; but, this effect is small for most incident infl
ow angles and the predominant effect turns out to be the transmission of angular momentum, i.e. a torque giving an integral-sign shaped warp. The torque produced by a flow of velocity ~100 km/s and baryon density ~10^{-25} kg/m^3, which is within the possible values for the intergalactic medium, is enough to generate the observed warps and this mechanism offers quite a plausible explanation. The inferred rate of infall of matter, ~1 M_sun/yr, to the Galactic disc that this theory predicts agrees with the quantitative predictions of chemical evolution resolving key issues, notably the G-dwarf problem. Sanchez-Salcedo (2006) suggests that this mechanism is not plausible because it would produce a dependence of the scaleheight of the disc with the Galactocentric azimuth in the outer disc, but rather than being an objection this is another argument in favour of the mechanism because this dependence is actually observed in our Galaxy.
