Cross-correlations as a cosmological carbon monoxide detector
Abstract
We present a new procedure to measure the large-scale carbon monoxide (CO) emissions across cosmic history. As a tracer of the large-scale structure (LSS) itself, the CO gas content as a function of redshift can be quantified by its three-dimensional fluctuation power spectra. Furthermore, cross-correlating CO emission with other tracers of LSS offers a way to measure the emission as a function of scale and redshift. Here we introduce the formalism and model relevant for such a cross-correlation measurement between CO and other LSS tracers, and between different CO rotational lines. As an illustration, we propose a novel use of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data and attempt to extract redshifted CO emissions embedded in the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) dataset. We cross-correlate the all-sky WMAP7 data with LSS data sets, namely, the photometric quasar sample and the luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 6 and 7 respectively. We are not able to detect a cross-correlation signal with either CO(1-0) nor CO(2-1) lines at different redshifts, mainly due to the instrumental noise in the WMAP data. However, we are able to rule out models that are more than three times greater than our more optimistic model. We discuss the cross-correlation signal from the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect and dust as potential contaminants, and quantify their impact for our CO measurements. We discuss forecasts for current CMB experiments and a hypothetical future CO focused experiment, for which we propose to cross-correlate the CO temperature data with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) Lyα-emitter sample, for which a signal-to-noise ratio of 58 is possible.
Additional Information
© 2013 American Astronomical Society. Received 2012 November 15; accepted 2013 February 25; published 2013 April 10. We thank D. Hanson, S. Furlanetto, and M. Seiffert for helpful comments and useful discussions. Part of the research described in this paper was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. A.P. was supported by an appointment to the NASA Postdoctoral Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities through a contract with NASA. This work was supported by the Keck Institute of Space Studies and we thank colleagues at the "First Billion Years" for stimulating discussions, in particular J. Bowman and A. Readhead for organizing it. Funding for the SDSS and SDSS-II has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, the Max Planck Society, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The SDSS Web site is http://www.sdss.org/. The SDSS is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions. The Participating Institutions are the American Museum of Natural History, Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, University of Basel, University of Cambridge, Case Western Reserve University, University of Chicago, Drexel University, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, Johns Hopkins University, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, the Korean Scientist Group, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (LAMOST), Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), New Mexico State University, Ohio State University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Portsmouth, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory, and the University of Washington.Attached Files
Published - Pullen_2013_ApJ_768_15.pdf
Submitted - 1211.1397v1.pdf
Files
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:b559215b326163438487e4f0a343c6fd
|
1.4 MB | Preview Download |
|
md5:5620e4bd0a83a594249c51a618eefb1a
|
943.3 kB | Preview Download |
Additional details
- Alternative title
- Cross-correlations as a carbon monoxide detector
- Eprint ID
- 35526
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20121119-075310465
- NASA/JPL/Caltech
- NASA Postdoctoral Program
- Keck Institute of Space Studies (KISS)
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- Participating Institutions
- NSF
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- Japanese Monbukagakusho
- Max Planck Society
- Higher Education Funding Council for England
- Created
-
2013-02-01Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2023-03-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Keck Institute for Space Studies