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Chanial, P.

Publications and source records attributed to Chanial, P..

The Simons Observatory: forecasted constraints on primordial gravitational waves with the expanded array of Small Aperture Telescopes

We present updated forecasts for the scientific performance of the degree-scale (0.5 deg FWHM at 93 GHz), deep-field survey to be conducted by the Simons Observatory (SO). By 2027, the SO Small Aperture Telescope (SAT) complement will be doubled from three to six telescopes, including a doubling of the detector count in the 93 GHz and 145 GHz channels to 48,160 detectors. Combined with a planned extension of the survey duration to 2035, this expansion will significantly enhance SO's search for a B-mode signal in the polarisation of the cosmic microwave background, a potential signature of gravitational waves produced in the very early Universe. Assuming a 1/f noise model with knee multipole ℓ knee = 50 and a moderately complex model for Galactic foregrounds, we forecast a 1σ (or 68% confidence level) constraint on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r of σ r = 1.2 × 10 -3 , assuming no primordial B-modes are present. This forecast assumes that 70% of the B-mode lensing signal can ultimately be removed using high resolution observations from the SO Large Aperture Telescope (LAT) and overlapping large-scale structure surveys. For more optimistic assumptions regarding foregrounds and noise, and assuming the same level of delensing, this forecast constraint improves to σ r = 7 × 10 -4 . These forecasts represent a major improvement in SO's constraining power, being a factor of around 2.5 times better than what could be achieved with the originally planned campaign, which assumed the existing three SATs would conduct a five-year survey.

CMBR experiments↗

The Simons Observatory: science goals and forecasts for the enhanced Large Aperture Telescope

We describe updated scientific goals for the wide-field, millimeter-wave survey that will be produced by the Simons Observatory (SO). Significant upgrades to the 6-meter SO Large Aperture Telescope (LAT) are expected to be complete by 2028, and will include a doubled mapping speed with 30,000 new detectors and an automated data reduction pipeline. In addition, a new photovoltaic array will supply most of the observatory's power. The LAT survey will cover about 60% of the sky at a regular observing cadence, with five times the angular resolution and ten times the map depth of the Planck satellite. The science goals are to: (1) determine the physical conditions in the early universe and constrain the existence of new light particles; (2) measure the integrated distribution of mass, electron pressure, and electron momentum in the late-time universe, and, in combination with optical surveys, determine the neutrino mass and the effects of dark energy via tomographic measurements of the growth of structure at redshifts z ≲ 3; (3) measure the distribution of electron density and pressure around galaxy groups and clusters, and calibrate the effects of energy input from galaxy formation on the surrounding environment; (4) produce a sample of more than 30,000 galaxy clusters, and more than 100,000 extragalactic millimeter sources, including regularly sampled AGN light-curves, to study these sources and their emission physics; (5) measure the polarized emission from magnetically aligned dust grains in our Galaxy, to study the properties of dust and the role of magnetic fields in star formation; (6) constrain asteroid regoliths, search for Trans-Neptunian Objects, and either detect or eliminate large portions of the phase space in the search for Planet 9; and (7) provide a powerful new window into the transient universe on time scales of minutes to years, concurrent with observations from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory of overlapping sky.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

QUBIC II: Spectral polarimetry with bolometric interferometry

Bolometric interferometry is a novel technique that has the ability to perform spectral imaging. A bolometric interferometer observes the sky in a wide frequency band and can reconstruct sky maps in several sub-bands within the physical band in post-processing of the data. This provides a powerful spectral method to discriminate between the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and astrophysical foregrounds. In this paper, the methodology is illustrated with examples based on the Q & U Bolometric Interferometer for Cosmology (QUBIC) which is a ground-based instrument designed to measure the B-mode polarization of the sky at millimeter wavelengths. We consider the specific cases of point source reconstruction and Galactic dust mapping and we characterize the point spread function as a function of frequency. We study the noise properties of spectral imaging, especially the correlations between sub-bands, using end-to-end simulations together with a fast noise simulator. Finally, we conclude showing that spectral imaging performance are nearly optimal up to five sub-bands in the case of QUBIC.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The HERschel Inventory of the Agents of Galaxy Evolution in the Magellanic Clouds, a HERschel Open Time Key Program

We present an overview or the HERschel Inventory of The Agents of Galaxy Evolution (HERITAGE) in the Magellanic Clouds project, which is a Herschel Space Observatory open time key program. We mapped the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) at 100, 160, 250, 350, and 500 micron with the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) and Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) instruments on board Herschel using the SPIRE/PACS parallel mode. The overriding science goal of HERITAGE is to study the life cycle of matter as traced by dust in the LMC and SMC. The far-infrared and submillimeter emission is an effective tracer of the interstellar medium (ISM) dust, the most deeply embedded young stellar objects (YSOs), and the dust ejected by the most massive stars. We describe in detail the data processing, particularly for the PACS data, which required some custom steps because of the large angular extent of a single observational unit and overall the large amount of data to be processed as an ensemble. We report total global fluxes for LMC and SMC and demonstrate their agreement with measurements by prior missions. The HERITAGE maps of the LMC and SMC are dominated by the ISM dust emission and bear most resemblance to the tracers of ISM gas rather than the stellar content of the galaxies. We describe the point source extraction processing and the critetia used to establish a catalog for each waveband for the HERITAGE program. The 250 micron band is the most sensitive and the source catalogs for this band have approx. 25,000 objects for the LMC and approx. 5500 objects for the SMC. These data enable studies of ISM dust properties, submillimeter excess dust emission, dust-to-gas ratio, Class 0 YSO candidates, dusty massive evolved stars, supemova remnants (including SN1987A), H II regions, and dust evolution in the LMC and SMC. All images and catalogs are delivered to the Herschel Science Center as part of the conummity support aspects of the project. These HERITAGE images and catalogs provide an excellent basis for future research and follow up with other facilities.

AGENTS↗

The Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey: HerMES

The Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey, HerMES, is a legacy program designed to map a set of nested fields totalling approx. 380 deg(exp 2). Fields range in size from 0.01 to approx. 20 deg (exp 2), using Herschel-SPIRE (at 250, 350 and 500 micron), and Herschel-PACS (at 100 and 160 micron), with an additional wider component of 270 deg. (exp. 2) with SPIRE alone. These bands cover the peak of the redshifted thermal spectral energy distribution from interstellar dust and thus capture the re-processed optical and ultra-violet radiation from star formation that has been absorbed by dust, and are critical for forming a complete multi-wavelength understanding of galaxy formation and evolution. The survey will detect of order 100,000 galaxies at 5-sigma in some of the best studied fields in the sky. Additionally, HerMES is closely coordinated with the PACS Evolutionary Probe survey. Making maximum use of the full spectrum of ancillary data, from radio to X-ray wavelengths, it is designed to: facilitate redshift determination; rapidly identify unusual objects; and understand the relationships between thermal emission from dust and other processes. Scientific questions HerMES will be used to answer include: the total infrared emission of galaxies; the evolution of the luminosity function; the clustering properties of dusty galaxies; and the properties of populations of galaxies which lie below the confusion limit through lensing and statistical techniques. This paper defines the survey observations and data products, outlines the primary scientific goals of the HerMES team, and reviews some of the early results.

multi-tiered↗

The Herschel Multi-Tiered Extragalactic Survey: SPIRE-mm Photometric Redshifts

We investigate the potential of submm-mm and submm-mm-radio photometric redshifts using a sample of mm-selected sources as seen at 250, 350 and 500 micron by the SPIRE instrument on Herschel. From a sample of 63 previously identified mm sources with reliable radio identifications in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey North and Lockman Hole North fields, 46 (73 per cent) are found to have detections in at least one SPIRE band. We explore the observed submm/mm color evolution with redshift, finding that the colors of mm sources are adequately described by a modified blackbody with constant optical depth Tau = (Nu/nu(sub 0))(exp Beta), where Beta = +1.8 and nu(sub 0) = c/100 micron. We find a tight correlation between dust temperature and IR luminosity. Using a single model of the dust temperature and IR luminosity relation, we derive photometric redshift estimates for the 46 SPIRE-detected mm sources. Testing against the 22 sources with known spectroscopic or good quality optical/near-IR photometric redshifts, we find submm/mm photometric redshifts offer a redshift accuracy of (absolute value of Delta sub (z))/(1 + z) = 0.16 (absolute value of Delta sub (z)) = 0.51). Including constraints from the radio-far-IR correlation, the accuracy is improved to (absolute value of Delta sub (z))/(1 + z) = 0.14 (((absolute value of Delta sub (z))) = 0.45). We estimate the redshift distribution of mm-selected sources finding a significant excess at Z > 3 when compared to approx 8S0 micron selected samples.

Roseboom, I. G.↗

The Herschel Multi-Tiered Extragalactic Survey: SPIRE-mm Photometric Redshifts

We investigate the potential of submm-mm and submm-mm-radio photometric red-shifts using a sample of mm-selected sources as seen at 250, 350 and 500 micrometers by the SPIRE instrument on Herschel. From a sample of 63 previously identified mm-sources with reliable radio identifications in the GOODS-N and Lockman Hole North fields 46 (73 per cent) are found to have detections in at least one SPIRE band. We explore the observed submm/mm colour evolution with redshift, finding that the colours of mm-sources are adequately described by a modified blackbody with constant optical depth Tau = (nu/nu(0))beta where beta = +1.8 and nu(0) = c/100 micrometers. We find a tight correlation between dust temperature and IR luminosity. Using a single model of the dust temperature and IR luminosity relation we derive photometric redshift estimates for the 46 SPIRE detected mm-sources. Testing against the 22 sources with known spectroscopic, or good quality optical/near-IR photometric, redshifts we find submm/mm photometric redshifts offer a redshift accuracy of |delta z|/(1+z) = 0.16 (less than |delta z| greater than = 0.51). Including constraints from the radio-far IR correlation the accuracy is improved to |delta z|/(1 + z) = 0.15 (less than |delta z| greater than = 0.45). We estimate the redshift distribution of mm-selected sources finding a significant excess at z greater than 3 when compared to 850 micrometer selected samples.

Roseboom, I. G.↗