Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21347437k&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #213, #474.37; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.434
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
We use absolutely calibrated data at 3, 8, and 10 GHz from the 2006 flight of the ARCADE instrument to test models of "anomalous" microwave emission, using a new test based on the spectrum of emission in the Galactic plane. The microwave sky is known to contain an emission component spatially correlated with the far-infrared dust continuum but not with synchrotron-dominated radio surveys. The frequency spectrum of the dust-correlated component differs markedly from the emission spectrum of thermal dust, with spectral index beta -2.2 from 20 GHz to 50 GHz. Two models have emerged to explain this emission: electric dipole emission from a population of small, rapidly rotating dust grains, or flat-spectrum synchrotron emission associated with star formation activity. Previous efforts to distinguish these models have correlated maps of the microwave sky against a template map of thermal dust emission, and examined the frequency dependence of the resulting correlation slope. We find that the observed decrease in dust-correlated emission at frequencies below 20 GHz, although consistent with spinning dust, does not necessarily support such models over the flat-spectrum synchrotron alternative. Both models predict weaker correlations with thermal dust emission at frequencies below 20 GHz. A stronger test relies on the absolute spectrum of the total Galactic emission. We illustrate how the total Galactic brightness at frequencies 3--10 GHz depends on the spinning dust normalization, and use the ARCADE absolute temperature data to test the spinning dust model.
Fixsen Dale J.
Kogut Alan J.
Levin Mark Sh.
Limon Michele
Lubin Phil M.
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