Anisotropy of the Cosmic Microwave Background

    General
    Description

    The general goal of this project is to determine and characterize the spatial and spectral variations in the temperature and polarisation of the Cosmic Microwave Background in angular scales from several arcminutes to several degrees. The primordial matter density fluctuations which originated the structure in the matter distribution of the present Universe, left imprinted inhomogeneities in the CMB temperature distribution, that are mathematically encoded in the so-called angular power spectrum. Initially, pioneering experiments like the COBE satellite (whose results deserved the Nobel Prize on Physics 2006) or the Tenerife CMB experiment demonstrated in the 90s that the level of anisotropy was about one part in a hundred thousands at angular scales of several degrees. Obtaining CMB maps at various frequencies with sufficient sensitivity to detect structures at this level is of fundamental importance to extract information on the power spectrum of primordial density fluctuations, to prove the existence of an inflationary period in the Early Universe and to establish the ultimate nature of the dark matter and dark energy. Recently, the WMAP satellite obtained CMB maps with unprecedented sensitivity that allowed to set restrictions on a large number of cosmological parameters.

    The focus of this project is to undertake measurements at gradually higher angular resolutions and sensitivities, by using different experiments that have been operative from the Teide Observatory, like the Tenerife experiment, the IAC-Bartol experiment or the JBO-IAC interferometer. More recently, the Very Small Array interferometer performed observations between 1999 and 2008. At that time the COSMOSOMAS experiment was also operative, its goal having been not only the characterization of the primary CMB anisotropies but also the study and characterization of the Galactic foreground contamination. In more recent years the activity in this project has focused in the scientific exploitation of data from the Planck satellite, and in the development, operation and exploitation of the QUIJOTE experiment. Now that the Planck mission has been completed and finished, the activity is focused in the scientific exploitation of QUIJOTE, in the development of new instrumentation for QUIJOTE, and in in the development of new experiments that are being deployed or that will be deployed at the Teide Observatory: GroundBRID, STRIP, KISS and TMS.

    Principal investigator
    Project staff
    Collaborators
    Dr.
    Fernando Atrio Barandela
    Dr.
    Enrique Martínez González
    Dr.
    Carlos Hernández Monteagudo
    1. 6-7 june: XV QUIJOTE Scientific Meeting (IFCA, Santander)
    2. July: publication of the final results (12 articles) and data from the Planck satellite.
    3. 15-19 october: "CMB foregrounds for B-mode studies" conference, organised within the Radioforegrounds proyect, IV AME workshop, and XVI QUIJOTE Scientific Meeting (all these eventes were celebrated at the IAC)
    4. October: installation of the dome of the GroundBIRD experiment, at the Teide Observatory.
    5. December: aceptation of the third QUIJOTE scientific article (Poidevin et al. 2019)

    Related publications

    • Planck intermediate results. XXVI. Optical identification and redshifts of Planck clusters with the RTT150 telescope

      We present the results of approximately three years of observations of Planck Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) sources with the Russian-Turkish 1.5 m telescope (RTT150), as a part of the optical follow-up programme undertaken by the Planck collaboration. During this time period approximately 20% of all dark and grey clear time available at the telescope was

      Planck Collaboration et al.

      Advertised on:

      10
      2015
      Citations
      46
    • Planck intermediate results. XXIII. Galactic plane emission components derived from Planck with ancillary data

      Planck data when combined with ancillary data provide a unique opportunity to separate the diffuse emission components of the inner Galaxy. The purpose of the paper is to elucidate the morphology of the various emission components in the strong star-formation region lying inside the solar radius and to clarify the relationship between the various

      Planck Collaboration et al.

      Advertised on:

      8
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    • Planck intermediate results. XXIV. Constraints on variations in fundamental constants

      Any variation in the fundamental physical constants, more particularly in the fine structure constant, α, or in the mass of the electron, me, affects the recombination history of the Universe and cause an imprint on the cosmic microwave background angular power spectra. We show that the Planck data allow one to improve the constraint on the time

      Planck Collaboration et al.

      Advertised on:

      8
      2015
      Citations
      98
    • Constraining the Redshift Evolution of the Cosmic Microwave Background Blackbody Temperature with PLANCK Data.

      We constrain the deviation of adiabatic evolution of the universe using the data on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies measured by the Planck satellite and a sample of 481 X-ray selected clusters with spectroscopically measured redshifts. To avoid antenna beam effects, we bring all of the maps to the same resolution. We

      de Martino, I. et al.

      Advertised on:

      8
      2015
      Citations
      26
    • Planck 2013 results. XXXII. The updated Planck catalogue of Sunyaev-Zeldovich sources

      We update the all-sky Planck catalogue of 1227 clusters and cluster candidates (PSZ1) published in March 2013, derived from detections of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect using the first 15.5 months of Planck satellite observations. As an addendum, we deliver an updated version of the PSZ1 catalogue, reporting the further confirmation of 86 Planck

      Planck Collaboration et al.

      Advertised on:

      9
      2015
      Citations
      91
    • Constraining the evolution of the CMB temperature with SZ measurements from Planck data

      The CMB temperature-redshift relation, TCMB(z)=T0(1+z), is a key prediction of the standard cosmology but is violated in many non-standard models. Constraining possible deviations from this law is an effective way to test the ΛCDM paradigm and to search for hints of new physics. We have determined TCMB(z), with a precision up to 3%, for a subsample

      Luzzi, G. et al.

      Advertised on:

      9
      2015
      Citations
      34
    • QUIJOTE scientific results - I. Measurements of the intensity and polarisation of the anomalous microwave emission in the Perseus molecular complex

      In this paper, we present Q-U-I JOint Tenerife Experiment (QUIJOTE) 10-20 GHz observations (194 h in total over ≈250 deg2) in intensity and polarisation of G159.6-18.5, one of the most widely studied regions harbouring anomalous microwave emission (AME). By combining with other publicly available intensity data, we achieve the most precise spectrum

      Vielva, P. et al.

      Advertised on:

      10
      2015
      Citations
      64
    • Joint Analysis of BICEP2/Keck Array and Planck Data

      We report the results of a joint analysis of data from BICEP2/Keck Array and Planck. BICEP2 and Keck Array have observed the same approximately 400 deg2 patch of sky centered on RA 0 h, Dec. -57.5 ° . The combined maps reach a depth of 57 nK deg in Stokes Q and U in a band centered at 150 GHz. Planck has observed the full sky in polarization at

      Schwarz, R. et al.

      Advertised on:

      3
      2015
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      904
    • Constraining the Baryon Fraction in the Warm Hot Intergalactic Medium at Low Redshifts with Planck Data

      We cross-correlate foreground cleaned Planck Nominal cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps with two templates constructed from the Two-Micron All-Sky Redshift Survey of galaxies. The first template traces the large-scale filamentary distribution characteristic of the Warm–Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM) out to ∼ 90 {{h}-1} Mpc. The second

      Génova-Santos, R. et al.

      Advertised on:

      6
      2015
      Citations
      12
    • Planck intermediate results. XIX. An overview of the polarized thermal emission from Galactic dust

      This paper presents an overview of the polarized sky as seen by Planck HFI at 353 GHz, which is the most sensitive Planck channel for dust polarization. We construct and analyse maps of dust polarization fraction and polarization angle at 1° resolution, taking into account noise bias and possible systematic effects. The sensitivity of the Planck

      Planck Collaboration et al.

      Advertised on:

      4
      2015
      Citations
      343
    • Planck intermediate results. XXI. Comparison of polarized thermal emission from Galactic dust at 353 GHz with interstellar polarization in the visible

      The Planck survey provides unprecedented full-sky coverage of the submillimetre polarized emission from Galactic dust. In addition to the information on the direction of the Galactic magnetic field, this also brings new constraints on the properties of dust. The dust grains that emit the radiation seen by Planck in the submillimetre also extinguish

      Planck Collaboration et al.

      Advertised on:

      4
      2015
      Citations
      85
    • Planck intermediate results. XXII. Frequency dependence of thermal emission from Galactic dust in intensity and polarization<xref ref-type="fn" rid="FN1">

      Planck has mapped the intensity and polarization of the sky at microwave frequencies with unprecedented sensitivity. We use these data to characterize the frequency dependence of dust emission. We make use of the Planck 353 GHz I, Q, and U Stokes maps as dust templates, and cross-correlate them with the Planck and WMAP data at 12 frequencies from

      Planck Collaboration et al.

      Advertised on:

      4
      2015
      Citations
      168
    • New Radio Observations of Anomalous Microwave Emission in the H II Region RCW175

      We have observed the H II region RCW175 with the 64 m Parkes telescope at 8.4 GHz and 13.5 GHz in total intensity, and at 21.5 GHz in both total intensity and polarization. High angular resolution ranging from 1 to 2.4 arcmin, high sensitivity, and polarization capability enable us to perform a detailed study of the different constituents of the H

      Battistelli, E. S. et al.

      Advertised on:

      3
      2015
      Citations
      22
    • Planck intermediate results. XV. A study of anomalous microwave emission in Galactic clouds

      Anomalous microwave emission (AME) is believed to be due to electric dipole radiation from small spinning dust grains. The aim of this paper is a statistical study of the basic properties of AME regions and the environment in which they emit. We used WMAP and Planck maps, combined with ancillary radio and IR data, to construct a sample of 98

      Planck Collaboration et al.

      Advertised on:

      5
      2014
      Citations
      71
    • Planck intermediate results. XVI. Profile likelihoods for cosmological parameters

      We explore the 2013 Planck likelihood function with a high-precision multi-dimensional minimizer (Minuit). This allows a refinement of the ΛCDM best-fit solution with respect to previously-released results, and the construction of frequentist confidence intervals using profile likelihoods. The agreement with the cosmological results from the

      Planck Collaboration et al.

      Advertised on:

      6
      2014
      Citations
      99
    • Planck intermediate results. XIV. Dust emission at millimetre wavelengths in the Galactic plane

      We use Planck HFI data combined with ancillary radio data to study the emissivity index of the interstellar dust emission in the frequency range 100-353 GHz, or 3-0.8 mm, in the Galactic plane. We analyse the region l = 20°-44° and |b| ≤ 4° where the free-free emission can be estimated from radio recombination line data. We fit the spectra at each

      Planck Collaboration et al.

      Advertised on:

      4
      2014
      Citations
      59
    • Planck intermediate results. XVIII. The millimetre and sub-millimetre emission from planetary nebulae

      Late stages of stellar evolution are characterized by copious mass-loss events whose signature is the formation of circumstellar envelopes (CSE). Planck multi-frequency measurements have provided relevant information on a sample of Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) in the important and relatively unexplored observational band between 30 and 857 GHz

      Planck Collaboration et al.

      Advertised on:

      1
      2015
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      13
    • Single-walled Carbon Nanohorn: Electronic Absorption Spectra in Neutral and Oxodized State

      The electronic absorption spectrum of single-walled carbon nanohorn (SWCNH) shows a relatively broad absorption peak at 256-259 nm when suspended in tetradecane and in decalin. The electronic absorption spectrum is also characterized by a series of small bands recalling the spectra of C-60 and C-70 fullerenes. Surprisingly, SWCNH shows a minimal

      Iglesias-Groth, S. et al.

      Advertised on:

      11
      2014
    • Neutron bombardment of single wall carbon nanohorn (SWCNH): DSC determination of the stored Wigner-Szilard energy

      Single wall carbon nanohorn (SWCNH) were neutron-bombarded to a dose of 3.28 x 10(16) n/cm(2). The Wigner or stored energy was determined by a differential scanning calorimeter and was found 5.49 J/g, 50 times higher than the Wigner energy measured on graphite flakes treated at the same neutron dose. The activation energy for the thermal annealing

      Cataldo, F. et al.

      Advertised on:

      3
      2014
    • Mass spectrometric analysis of selected radiolyzed amino acids in an astrochemical context

      A selection of amino acids, namely arginine, proline and tyrosine previously irradiated to 3.2 mega-Gray in the solid state and analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and optical rotatory dispersion (ORD) were analyzed in the present work by mass spectrometry with the purpose to identify the radiolysis products and validate the results

      Cherubini C. et al.

      Advertised on:

      3
      2014

    Related talks

    No related talks were found.

    Related conferences

    • XIX Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics "The Cosmic Microwave | Background: from quantum fluctuations to the present Universe"

      Tenerife, Canary Islands
      Spain
      Date
      -
      Past
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