Brandon S. Hensley

MAGNETIC NANOPARTICLES IN THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM: EMISSION SPECTRUM AND POLARIZATION

The presence of ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic nanoparticles in the interstellar medium would give rise to magnetic dipole radiation at microwave and submillimeter frequencies. Such grains may account for the strong millimeter-wavelength emission observed from a number of low-metallicity galaxies, including the Small Magellanic Cloud. We calculate the absorption and scattering cross sections for such grains, with particular attention to metallic Fe, magnetite Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}, and maghemite {gamma}-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}, all potentially present in the interstellar medium. The rate of Davis-Greenstein alignment by magnetic dissipation is also estimated. We determine the temperature of free-flying magnetic grains heated by starlight and calculate the polarization of the magnetic dipole emission from both free-fliers and inclusions. For inclusions, the magnetic dipole emission is expected to be polarized orthogonally relative to the normal electric dipole radiation. Magnetic dipole radiation will contribute significantly to the 20-40 GHz anomalous microwave emission only if a large fraction of the Fe is in metallic Fe iron nanoparticles with extreme elongations. Finally, we present self-consistent dielectric functions for metallic Fe, magnetite Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}, and maghemite {gamma}-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}, enabling calculation of absorption and scattering cross sections from microwave to X-ray wavelengths.

The Submillimeter and Millimeter Excess of the Small Magellanic Cloud: Magnetic Dipole Emission from Magnetic Nanoparticles?

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) has surprisingly strong submillimeter- and millimeter-wavelength emission that is inconsistent with standard dust models, including those with emission from spinning dust. Here, we show that the emission from the SMC may be understood if the interstellar dust mixture includes magnetic nanoparticles, emitting magnetic dipole radiation resulting from thermal fluctuations in the magnetization. The magnetic grains can be metallic iron, magnetite Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4}, or maghemite {gamma}-Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}. The required mass of iron is consistent with elemental abundance constraints. The magnetic dipole emission is predicted to be polarized orthogonally to the normal electric dipole radiation if the nanoparticles are inclusions in larger grains. We speculate that other low-metallicity galaxies may also have a large fraction of the interstellar Fe in magnetic materials.

THE DETECTABILITY OF DARK MATTER ANNIHILATION WITH FERMI USING THE ANISOTROPY ENERGY SPECTRUM OF THE GAMMA-RAY BACKGROUND

The energy dependence of the anisotropy (the anisotropy energy spectrum) of the large-scale diffuse gamma-ray background can reveal the presence of multiple source populations. Annihilating dark matter in the substructure of the Milky Way halo could give rise to a modulation in the anisotropy energy spectrum of the diffuse gamma-ray emission measured by Fermi, enabling the detection of a dark matter signal. We determine the detectability of a dark-matter-induced modulation for scenarios in which unresolved blazars are the primary contributor to the measured emission above ~1 GeV and find that in some scenarios pair-annihilation cross sections on the order of the value expected for thermal relic dark matter can produce a detectable feature. We anticipate that the sensitivity of this technique to specific dark matter models could be improved by tailored likelihood analysis methods.

A CASE AGAINST SPINNING PAHS AS THE SOURCE OF THE ANOMALOUS MICROWAVE EMISSION

We employ an all-sky map of the anomalous microwave emission (AME) produced by component separation of the microwave sky to study correlations between the AME and Galactic dust properties. We find that while the AME is highly correlated with all tracers of dust emission, the best predictor of the AME strength is the dust radiance. Fluctuations in the AME intensity per dust radiance are uncorrelated with fluctuations in the emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), casting doubt on the association between AME and PAHs. The PAH abundance is strongly correlated with the dust optical depth and dust radiance, consistent with PAH destruction in low density regions. We find that the AME intensity increases with increasing radiation field strength, at variance with predictions from the spinning dust hypothesis. Finally, the temperature-dependence of the AME per dust radiance disfavors the interpretation of the AME as thermal emission. A reconsideration of other AME carriers, such as ultrasmall silicates, and other emission mechanisms, such as magnetic dipole emission, is warranted.

Novel Techniques for Decomposing Diffuse Backgrounds

The total anisotropy of a diffuse background composed of two or more sources, such as the Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT)-measured gamma-ray background, is set by the anisotropy of each source population and the contribution of each population to the total intensity. The total anisotropy as a function of energy (the anisotropy energy spectrum) will modulate as the relative contributions of the sources change, implying that the anisotropy energy spectrum also encodes the intensity spectrum of each source class. We develop techniques, applicable to any such diffuse background, for unraveling the intensity spectrum of each component source population given a measurement of the total intensity spectrum and the total anisotropy energy spectrum, without introducing a priori assumptions about the spectra of the source classes. We demonstrate the potential of these methods by applying them to example scenarios for the composition of the Fermi-LAT gamma-ray background consistent with current data and feasible within 10 yr of observation.

Characterizing extragalactic anomalous microwave emission in NGC 6946 with CARMA

Using 1 cm and 3 mm observations from the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy and 2 mm observations from the Goddard IRAM Superconducting 2 Millimeter Observer observations, we follow up the first extragalactic detection of anomalous microwave emission (AME) reported by Murphy et al. in an extranuclear region (Enuc. 4) of the nearby face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946. We find the spectral shape and peak frequency of AME in this region to be consistent with models of spinning dust emission. However, the strength of the emission far exceeds the Galactic AME emissivity given the abundance of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in that region. Using our galaxy-wide 1 cm map (21 arcsec resolution), we identify a total of eight 21 arcsec × 21 arcsec regions in NGC 6946 that harbour AME at >95 per cent significance at levels comparable to that observed in Enuc. 4. The remainder of the galaxy has 1 cm emission consistent with or below the observed Galactic AME emissivity per PAH surface density. We probe relationships between the detected AME and dust surface density, PAH emission, and radiation field, though no environmental property emerges to delineate regions with strong versus weak or non-existent AME. On the basis of these data and other AME observations in the literature, we determine that the AME emissivity per unit dust mass is highly variable. We argue that the spinning dust hypothesis, which predicts the AME power to be approximately proportional to the PAH mass, is therefore incomplete.

Background subtraction uncertainty from submillimetre to millimetre wavelengths

Photometric observations of galaxies at submillimetre to millimetre wavelengths (50 - 1000 GHz) are susceptible to spatial variations in both the background CMB temperature and CIB emission that can be comparable to the flux from the target galaxy. We quantify the residual uncertainty when background emission inside a circular aperture is estimated by the mean flux in a surrounding annular region, assumed to have no contribution from the source of interest. We present simple formulae to calculate this uncertainty as a function of wavelength and aperture size. Drawing on examples from the literature, we illustrate the use of our formalism in practice and highlight cases in which uncertainty in the background subtraction needs to be considered in the error analysis. We make the code used to calculate the uncertainties publicly available on the web.