CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MILLIMETER-WAVE POLARIZATION OF CENTAURUS A WITH QUaD

Journal Article · Sat Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/710/2/1541· OSTI ID:21394430

Zemcov, M; Bock, J; Leitch, E ^[1]; Ade, P; Bowden, M; Gear, W K; Gupta, S; Melhuish, S J ^[2]; Brown, M L ^[3]; Cahill, G; Murphy, J A ^[4]; Castro, P G ^[5]; Church, S; Hinderks, J ^[6]; Culverhouse, T; Friedman, R B ^[7]; Ganga, K ^[8]; Kovac, J; Lange, A E ^[9]; Memari, Y ^[10]

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1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
2. School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Queen's Buildings, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA (United Kingdom)
3. Kavli Institute for Cosmology and Cavendish Astrophysics, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OHA (United Kingdom)
4. Department of Experimental Physics, National University of Ireland Maynooth, Maynooth, Co. Kildare (Ireland)
5. CENTRA, Departamento de Fisica, Edificio Ciencia, Piso 4, Instituto Superior Tecnico - IST, Universidade Tecnica de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa (Portugal)
6. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology and Department of Physics, Stanford University, 382 Via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)
7. Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)
8. APC/Universite Paris 7-Denis Diderot/CNRS, Batiment Condorcet, 10, rue Alice Domon et Leonie Duquet, 75205 Paris Cedex 13 (France)
9. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
10. Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom)

Centaurus (Cen) A represents one of the best candidates for an isolated, compact, highly polarized source that is bright at typical cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment frequencies. We present measurements of the 4{sup 0} x 2{sup 0} region centered on Cen A with QUaD, a CMB polarimeter whose absolute polarization angle is known to an accuracy of 0.{sup 0}5. Simulations are performed to assess the effect of misestimation of the instrumental parameters on the final measurement and systematic errors due to the field's background structure and temporal variability from Cen A's nuclear region are determined. The total (Q, U) of the inner lobe region is (1.00 +- 0.07(stat.) +- 0.04(sys.), - 1.72 +- 0.06 +- 0.05) Jy at 100 GHz and (0.80 +- 0.06 +- 0.06, - 1.40 +- 0.07 +- 0.08) Jy at 150 GHz, leading to polarization angles and total errors of -30.{sup 0}0 +- 1.{sup 0}1 and -29.{sup 0}1 +- 1.{sup 0}7. These measurements will allow the use of Cen A as a polarized calibration source for future millimeter experiments.

• OSTI ID: 21394430
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 710, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/710/2/1541; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
BACKGROUND RADIATION
CALIBRATION
ERRORS
GALAXIES
GHZ RANGE 100-1000
POLARIMETERS
POLARIZATION
RELICT RADIATION
SIMULATION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
FREQUENCY RANGE
GHZ RANGE
MICROWAVE RADIATION
RADIATIONS