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Title: Maps of the Magellanic clouds from combined South Pole Telescope and Planck data

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal. Supplement Series (Online)

Here, we present maps of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds from combined South Pole Telescope (SPT) and Planck data. Both instruments are designed to make measurements of the cosmic microwave background but are sensitive to any source of millimeter-wave (mm-wave) emission. The Planck satellite observes in nine mm-wave bands, while the SPT data used in this work were taken with the three-band SPT-SZ camera. The SPT-SZ bands correspond closely to three of the nine Planck bands, namely those centered at 1.4, 2.1, and 3.0 mm. The angular resolution of the Planck data in these bands ranges from 5 to 10 arcmin, while the SPT resolution in these bands ranges from 1.0 to 1.7 arcmin. The combined maps take advantage of the high resolution of the SPT data and the long-timescale stability of the space-based Planck observations to deliver high signal-to-noise and robust brightness measurements on scales from the size of the maps down to ~1 arcmin. In each of the three bands, we first calibrate and color-correct the SPT data to match the Planck data, then we use noise estimates from each instrument and knowledge of each instrument's beam, or point-spread function, to make the inverse-variance-weighted combination of the two instruments' data as a function of angular scale. Furthermore, we create maps assuming a range of underlying emission spectra (for the color correction) and at a range of final resolutions. We perform several consistency tests on the combined maps and estimate the expected noise in measurements of features in the maps. Finally, we compare the maps of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) from this work to maps from the Herschel HERITAGE survey, finding general consistency between the datasets. Furthermore, the broad wavelength coverage provides evidence of different emission mechanisms at work in different environments in the LMC.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
Contributing Organization:
South Pole Telescope Collaboration; Planck Collaboration
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515; AC02-07CH11359; AC02-06CH11357; SC0015640
OSTI ID:
1260392
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1361061; OSTI ID: 1594619
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-PUB-16-158-AE-PPD; arXiv:1605.00966; 1454381
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal. Supplement Series (Online), Vol. 227, Issue 2; ISSN 1538-4365
Publisher:
American Astronomical Society/IOPCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 10 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (3)

THE 1.1 mm CONTINUUM SURVEY OF THE SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD: PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND EVOLUTION OF THE DUST-SELECTED CLOUDS journal January 2017
A 2500 deg 2 CMB Lensing Map from Combined South Pole Telescope and Planck Data journal November 2017
Maps of the Southern Millimeter-wave Sky from Combined 2500 deg 2 SPT-SZ and Planck Temperature Data journal November 2018

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