Point-Source Power in 3 Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe Data

Abstract

Using a set of multifrequency cross spectra computed from the 3 year WMAP sky maps, we fit for the unresolved point-source contribution. For a white-noise power spectrum, we find a Q-band amplitude of A = 0.011 ± 0.001 μK^2 sr (antenna temperature), significantly smaller than the value of 0.017 ± 0.002 μK^2 sr used to correct the spectra in the WMAP release. Modifying the point-source correction in this way largely resolves the discrepancy that Eriksen et al. found between the WMAP V- and W-band power spectra. Correcting the co-added WMAP spectrum for both the low-l power excess due to a suboptimal likelihood approximation—also reported by Eriksen et al.—and the high-l power deficit due to oversubtracted point sources—presented in this Letter—we find that the net effect in terms of cosmological parameters is an ~0.7 σ shift in n_s to larger values. For the combination of WMAP, BOOMERANG, and ACBAR data, we find ns = 0.969 ± 0.016, lowering the significance of n_s ≠ 1 from ~2.7 σ to ~2.0 σ.

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