Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2006-01-17
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
18 pages, 14 figures. Astronomy and Astrophysics, in press
Scientific paper
10.1051/0004-6361:20054321
The Galactic synchrotron emission is expected to be the most relevant source of astrophysical contamination in cosmic microwave background polarization measurements, at least at frequencies < 100 GHz and at angular scales > 30'. We present a multifrequency analysis of the Leiden surveys, linear polarization surveys covering essentially the Northern Celestial Hemisphere at five frequencies between 408 MHz and 1411 MHz. By implementing specific interpolation methods to deal with these irregularly sampled data, we produced maps of the polarized diffuse Galactic radio emission with pixel size of 0.92 deg. We derived the angular power spectrum (APS) (PI, E, and B modes) of the synchrotron dominated radio emission as function of the multipole, l. We considered the whole covered region and some patches at different Galactic latitudes. By fitting the APS in terms of power laws (C_l = k l^a), we found spectral indices that steepen with increasing frequency: from a = -(1-1.5) at 408 MHz to a = -(2-3) at 1411 MHz for 10 < l < 100 and from a = -0.7 to a = -1.5 for lower multipoles (the exact values depending on the considered sky region and polarization mode). The bulk of this steepening can be interpreted in terms of Faraday depolarization effects. We then considered the APS at various fixed multipoles and its frequency dependence. Using the APSs of the Leiden surveys at 820 MHz and 1411 MHz, we determined possible ranges for the rotation measure, RM, in the simple case of an interstellar medium slab model. Taking also into account the polarization degree at 1.4 GHz, we could break the degeneracy between the identified RM intervals. The most reasonable of them turned out to be RM = 9-17 rad/m^2.
Burigana Carlo
Porta Laura La
No associations
LandOfFree
A multifrequency angular power spectrum analysis of the Leiden polarization surveys does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with A multifrequency angular power spectrum analysis of the Leiden polarization surveys, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A multifrequency angular power spectrum analysis of the Leiden polarization surveys will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-228752