Physical Processes Commons^™

Fully Relativistic Derivation Of The Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect, Balša Terzić, Geoffrey A. Krafft, William Clark, Alexandre Deur, Emerson Rogers, Ioannis Sakiotis, Brandon Velasco

Physics Faculty Publications

We present the first fully and inherently relativistic derivation of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. This work uses the formalism historically applied to compute radiation spectra emerging from inverse Thomson/Compton sources of x-ray radiation. Comparing our results to the traditional approach based on relativistically-corrected classical Kompaneets equation, we find small, but systematic differences. Most notable are the modest (⩽10%) differences in the crossover frequency where the spectral distortion due to the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect vanishes, and the quadratic scaling of the energy shift with the electron cloud temperatures.

Fast-Moving Diffuse Auroral Patches: A New Aspect Of Daytime Pc3 Auroral Pulsations, Tetsuo Motoba, Yusuke Ebihara, Akira Kadokura, Mark J. Engebretson, Marc R. Lessard, Allan T. Weatherwax, Andrew J. Gerrard

Physics Faculty Publications

Auroral pulsations are a convenient diagnostic of wave-particle interactions in the magnetosphere. A case study of a daytime Pc3 (22–100 mHz) auroral pulsation event, measured with a ~2 Hz sampling all-sky camera at South Pole Station (74.4°S magnetic latitude) on 17 May 2012, is presented. The daytime Pc3 auroral pulsations were most active in a closed field line region where the aurora was dominated by diffuse green-line emissions and within ±2 h of magnetic local noon. Usually, but not always, the corresponding periodic variations were recorded with a colocated search coil magnetometer. Of particular interest is the two-dimensional auroral signature, …

Rethinking The Polar Cap: Eccentric Dipole Structuring Of Ulf Power At The Highest Corrected Geomagnetic Latitudes, Kevin D. Urban, Andrew J. Gerrard, Louis J. Lanzerotti, Allan T. Weatherwax

Physics Faculty Publications

The day-to-day evolution and statistical features of Pc3-Pc7 band ultralow frequency (ULF) power throughout the southern polar cap suggest that the corrected geomagnetic (CGM) coordinates do not adequately organize the observed hydromagnetic spatial structure. It is shown that that the local-time distribution of ULF power at sites along CGM latitudinal parallels exhibit fundamental differences and that the CGM latitude of a site in general is not indicative of the site's projection into the magnetosphere. Thus, ULF characteristics observed at a single site in the polar cap cannot be freely generalized to other sites of similar CGM latitude but separated in …

Bandwidth In Bolometric Interferometry, R. Charlassier, Emory F. Bunn, J.-Ch. Hamilton, J. Kaplan, S. Malu

Physics Faculty Publications

Context. Bolometric interferometry is a promising new technology with potential applications to the detection of B-mode polarization fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). A bolometric interferometer will have to take advantage of the wide spectral detection band of its bolometers to be competitive with imaging experiments. A crucial concern is that interferometers are assumed to be significantly affected by a spoiling effect known as bandwidth smearing.

Aims. We investigate how the bandwidth modifies the work principle of a bolometric interferometer and affects its sensitivity to the CMB angular power spectra.

Methods. We obtain analytical expressions for …