IUCAA Preprints

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    Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy Measurement from Python V
    (2001-03-01) Coble, Kim; Dodelson, S.; Dragovan, Mark; et al.
    We analyze observations of the microwave sky made with the Python exper- iment in its fifth year of operation at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. After modeling the noise and constructing a map, we extract the cosmic signal from the data. We simultaneously estimate the angular power spectrum in eight bands ranging from large (ℓ ∼ 40) to small (ℓ ∼ 260) angular scales, with power detected in the first six bands. There is a significant rise in the power spectrum from large to smaller (ℓ ∼ 200) scales, consistent with that ex- pected from acoustic oscillations in the early Universe. We compare this Python V map to a map made from data taken in the third year of Python. Python III observations were made at a frequency of 90 GHz and covered a subset of the region of the sky covered by Python V observations, which were made at 40 GHz. Good agreement is obtained both visually (with a filtered version of the map) and via a likelihood ratio test.
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    Evidence for shock acceleration and intergalactic magnetic fields in a large-scale filament of galaxies ZwC1 2341.1+0000
    (2002-06-19) Bagchi, Joydeep; Enßlin, Torsten A.; Miniati, Francesco; et al.
    We report the discovery of large-scale diffuse radio emission from what appears to be a large-scale filamentary network of galaxies in the region of cluster ZwCl 2341.1+0000, and stretching over an area of at least 6 h−1 50 Mpc in diameter. Mul- ticolour CCD observations yield photometric redshifts indicating that a significant fraction of the optical galaxies in this region is at a redshift of z=0.3. This is sup- ported by spectroscopic measurements of 4 galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) at a mean z =0.27. We present VLA images at λ =20 cm (NVSS) and 90 cm, showing the detailed radio structure of the filaments. Comparison with the high resolution FIRST radio survey shows that the diffuse emission is not due to known individual point sources. The diffuse radio-emission has a spectral index α . −0.5, and is most likely synchrotron emission from relativistic charged particles in an inter-galactic magnetic field. Furthermore, this optical/radio structure is detected in X-rays by the ROSAT all-sky survey. It has a 0.1–2.4 keV luminosity of about 1044 erg s−1 and shows an extended highly non-relaxed morphology. These observa- tions suggest that ZwCl 2341.1+0000 is possibly a proto-cluster of galaxies in which we are witnessing the process of structure formation. We show that the energetics of accretion shocks generated in forming large-scale structures are sufficient to pro- duce enough high energy cosmic-ray (CR) electrons required to explain the observed radio emission, provided a magnetic field of strength B & 0.3µG is present there. The latter is only a lower limit and the actual magnetic field is likely to be higher depending on the morphology of the emitting region. Finally, we show results from Preprint submitted to Elsevier Science 1 February 2008a numerical simulation of large-scale structure formation including acceleration of CR electrons at cosmological shocks and magnetic field evolution. Our results are in accord with the observed radio synchrotron and X-ray thermal bremsstrahlung fluxes. Thus we conclude that the reported radio detection is the first evidence of cosmic-ray particle acceleration taking place at cosmic shocks in a magnetized inter-galactic medium over scales of & 5 h−1 50 Mpc.
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    CMB Anisotropy Constraints on Flat-Lambda and Open CDM Cosmogonies from DMR, UCSB South Pole, Python, ARGO, MAX, White Dish, OVRO, and SuZIE Data
    (2011-07-06) Mukherjee, Pia; Ken, Ganga; Ratra, Bharat; et al.
    We use joint likelihood analyses of combinations of fifteen cosmic microwave back- ground (CMB) anisotropy data sets from the DMR, UCSB South Pole 1994, Python I–III, ARGO, MAX 4 and 5, White Dish, OVRO, and SuZIE experiments to constrain cosmogonies. We consider open and spatially-flat-Λ cold dark matter cosmogonies, with nonrelativistic-mass density parameter Ω0 in the range 0.1–1, baryonic-mass den- sity parameter ΩB in the range (0.005–0.029)h−2 , and age of the universe t0 in the range (10–20) Gyr. Marginalizing over all parameters but Ω0, the data favor Ω0 ≃ 0.9–1 (0.4–0.6) flat- Λ (open) models. The range in deduced Ω0 values is partially a consequence of the different combinations of smaller-angular-scale CMB anisotropy data sets used in the analyses, but more significantly a consequence of whether the DMR quadrupole moment is accounted for or ignored in the analysis. While the open model is difficult to reconcile with the results of less exact analyses of more recent CMB anisotropy data, the lower values of Ω0 found in this case are more easily reconciled with dynamical estimates of this parameter. For both flat-Λ and open models, after marginalizing over all other parameters, a lower ΩBh2 ≃ 0.005–0.009 is favored. This is also marginally at odds with estimates from more recent CMB anisotropy data and some estimates from standard nucleosynthesis theory and observed light element abundances. For both sets of models a younger universe with t0 ≃ 12–15 Gyr is favored, consistent with other recent non- CMB indicators. We emphasize that since we consider only a small number of data sets, these results are tentative. More importantly, the analyses here do not rule out the currently favored flat-Λ model with Ω0 ∼ 0.3, nor the larger ΩBh2 values favored by some other data.
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    Probing the time-variation of the fine-structure constant: Results based on Si IV doublets from a UVES sample
    (2011-07-06) Chand, Hum; Petitjean, Patrick; Srianand, R.; et al.
    We report a new constraint on the variation of the fine-structure constant based on the analysis of 15 Si iv doublets selected from a ESO-UVES sample. We find ∆α/α = (+0.15 ± 0.43) × 10−5 over a redshift range of 1.59 ≤ z ≤ 2.92 which is consistent with no variation in α. This result represents a factor of three improvement on the constraint on ∆α/α based on Si iv doublets compared to the published results in the literature. The alkali doublet method used here avoids the implicit assumptions used in the many-multiplet method that chemical and ionization inhomogeneities are negligible and isotopic abundances are close to the terrestrial value.
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    Relative abundance pattern along the profile of high redshift damped Lyman-alpha systems
    (2005-09-01) Rodriguez, E.; Ledoux, C.; Aracil, Bastien; et al.
    We investigate abundance ratios along the profiles of six high-redshift Damped Lyman-α systems, three of them beeing associated with H2 absorption. We use a new method to derive optical depths in each velocity pixel. The variations of the pixel abundance ratios are found to be remarquably small and usually smaller than a factor of two within a profile. This results holds when considering independent sub-clumps in the same system. Only in the components where H2 is detected is the depletion factor significantly enhanced. There is a strong correlation between [Fe/S] and [Si/S] ratios showing that the abundance ratio patterns are definitely related to the presence of dust. The depletion pattern is usually close to that seen in warm halo gas of our Galaxy.