Cosmic Microwave Background Observations with a Compact Heterogeneous 150 GHz Interferometer in Chile
| Autor: | Asad M. Aboobaker, William B. Doriese, Daniel H. Wesley, L. A. Page, Suzanne T. Staggs, Tobias A. Marriage, Joseph W. Fowler, Y. S. Loh, Zigmund Kermish, Mark Halpern, Huan Tran, C. Dumont |
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| Rok vydání: | 2005 |
| Předmět: |
Time delay and integration
Physics Null (radio) Cosmic microwave background Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Astronomy and Astrophysics Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics Astrophysics Interferometry Space and Planetary Science Data analysis Calibration Sensitivity (electronics) Zenith |
| Zdroj: | The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 156:1-11 |
| ISSN: | 1538-4365 0067-0049 |
| DOI: | 10.1086/426393 |
| Popis: | We report on the design, first observing season, and analysis of data from a new prototype millimeter-wave interferometer, MINT. MINT consists of four 145 GHz SIS mixers operating in double-sideband mode in a compact heterogeneous configuration. The signal band is subdivided by a monolithic channelizer, after which the correlations between antennas are performed digitally. The typical receiver sensitivity in a 2 GHz band is 1.4 mK sqrt(s). MINT observed the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from the Chilean Altiplano. The site has a median nighttime atmospheric temperature of 9 K at zenith (exclusive of the CMB). Observations of Mars, Jupiter, and a telescope-mounted calibration source establish the system's phase and magnitude stability. MINT is the first CMB-dedicated interferometer to operate above 50 GHz. The same type of system can be used to probe the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in galaxy clusters near the SZ null at 217 GHz. We present an analysis of sideband-separated, digitally sampled data recorded by the array. Based on 215 hours of data taken in late 2001, we set an upper limit on the CMB anisotropy in a band of width Delta ell=700 around ell=1540 of delta T < 105 microK (95% conf). Increased sensitivity can be achieved with more integration time, greater bandwidth, and more elements. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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