M. Epifani

A short-wavelength measurement of the cosmic background radiation anisotropy

The results of a measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy at wavelengths between 0.4 and 2 mm, carried out using a balloon-borne 1.2 m telescope, are reported. A high Galactic latitude region about 15 deg wide with a 25 arcmin FWHM beam, switching in the sky with an amplitude of 108 arcmin, was observed. A sky signal correlated with the 100-micron diffuse emission mapped by the IRAS satellite was detected and used for calibration. After removal of this contribution, the residual intensity fluctuations give an upper limit to the anisotropy of the CMB at an equivalent frequency of 9.0/cm. 17 refs.

The TIR project: A balloon telescope for the measurement of CBR anisotropies

We describe the TIR telescope: a 2.6 m telescope which can be carried to balloon altitude, to perform far infrared (FIR) and millimetric (mm) observations. The telescope has been optimized for the search of Cosmic Background Radiation (CBR) Anisotropies and of faint, diffuse mm and FIR sources. We illustrate the scientific problems which this system can deal with and the technical solutions which were considered during the project. Flight experience with a smaller (1.2 m) prototype (the ARGO 1989 telescope) is also described.

TheARGO project: Scientific targets, first results and future perspectives

SummaryThe ARGO program consists of a balloon-borne mm and sub-mm telescope, devoted to the observation of diffuse radiation in the wavelength range between 2 mm and 300 μm, at angular scales between 10′ and 5°. We review here the impact of such observations in different fields ranging from Atmospheric Physics to Cosmology. We also quote the results obtained from ARGO’s first flight in 1989, and we describe the improved version of ARGO we are currently developing.

High-latitude galactic emission and the search for anisotropies of the cosmic background radiation

The anisotropies of the diffuse radiation in the mm and sub-mm spectral region are studied. These are produced by insterstellar dust emission and radio continuum emission, and can contaminate the measurements of the cosmological background anisotropies. Two high Galactic latitude cosmological windows permit searches for cosmic background radiation anisotropies at a level of Delta-T/T of about 10 to the -6th, at angular scales between about 0.5 and 5 deg, in the spectral interval between 2 and 9/cm. 23 refs.

A Balloon-Borne Experiment Devoted to the Search for Extragalactic Background Anisotropies in the Far IR

Several cosmological scenarios have been proposed, in which a strong extragalactic background in the far infrared region is expected (see Bond, Carr, Hogan (1986) for a review). The Berkeley-Nagoya group claimed to have detected such an emission in a recent rocket-borne experiment carried out in the submillimetre range (Matsumoto et al. (1988)).