Browsing by Author "Hensley, Brandon S."

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    The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Galactic Dust Structure and the Cosmic PAH Background in Cross-correlation with WISE
    (2024) Rosado, Rodrigo Cordova; Hensley, Brandon S.; Clark, Susan E.; Duivenvoorden, Adriaan J.; Atkins, Zachary; Battistelli, Elia Stefano; Choi, Steve K.; Dunkley, Jo; Hervias-Caimapo, Carlos; Li, Zack; Louis, Thibaut; Naess, Sigurd; Page, Lyman A.; Partridge, Bruce; Sifon, Cristobal; Staggs, Suzanne T.; Vargas, Cristian; Wollack, Edward J.
    We present a cross-correlation analysis between 1 ' resolution total intensity and polarization observations from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) at 150 and 220 GHz and 15'' mid-infrared photometry from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) over 107 12(degrees)5 x 12(degrees)5 patches of sky. We detect a spatially isotropic signal in the WISExACT TT cross-power spectrum at 30 sigma significance that we interpret as the correlation between the cosmic infrared background at ACT frequencies and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission from galaxies in WISE, i.e., the cosmic PAH background. Within the Milky Way, the Galactic dust TT spectra are generally well described by power laws in & ell; over the range 10(3) < l < 10(4), but there is evidence both for variability in the power-law index and for non-power-law behavior in some regions. We measure a positive correlation between WISE total intensity and ACT E-mode polarization at 1000 < l less than or similar to 6000 at >3 sigma in each of 35 distinct similar to 100 deg(2) regions of the sky, suggesting that alignment between Galactic density structures and the local magnetic field persists to subparsec physical scales in these regions. The distribution of TE amplitudes in this l range across all 107 regions is biased to positive values, while there is no evidence for such a bias in the TB spectra. This work constitutes the highest-& ell; measurements of the Galactic dust TE spectrum to date and indicates that cross-correlation with high-resolution mid-infrared measurements of dust emission is a promising tool for constraining the spatial statistics of dust emission at millimeter wavelengths.
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    The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Microwave Intensity and Polarization Maps of the Galactic Center
    (2021) Guan, Yilun; Clark, Susan E.; Hensley, Brandon S.; Gallardo, Patricio A.; Naess, Sigurd; Duell, Cody J.; Aiola, Simone; Atkins, Zachary; Calabrese, Erminia; Choi, Steve K.; Cothard, Nicholas F.; Devlin, Mark; Duivenvoorden, Adriaan J.; Dunkley, Jo; Dunner, Rolando; Ferraro, Simone; Hasselfield, Matthew; Hughes, John P.; Koopman, Brian J.; Kosowsky, Arthur B.; Madhavacheril, Mathew S.; McMahon, Jeff; Nati, Federico; Niemack, Michael D.; Page, Lyman A.; Salatino, Maria; Schaan, Emmanuel; Sehgal, Neelima; Sifon, Cristobal; Staggs, Suzanne; Vavagiakis, Eve M.; Wollack, Edward J.; Xu, Zhilei
    We present arcminute-resolution intensity and polarization maps of the Galactic center made with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. The maps cover a 32 deg(2) field at 98, 150, and 224 GHz with divide l divide <= 4 degrees, divide b divide <= 2 degrees. We combine these data with Planck observations at similar frequencies to create coadded maps with increased sensitivity at large angular scales. With the coadded maps, we are able to resolve many known features of the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) in both total intensity and polarization. We map the orientation of the plane-of-sky component of the Galactic magnetic field inferred from the polarization angle in the CMZ, finding significant changes in morphology in the three frequency bands as the underlying dominant emission mechanism changes from synchrotron to dust emission. Selected Galactic center sources, including Sgr A*, the Brick molecular cloud (G0.253+0.016), the Mouse pulsar wind nebula (G359.23-0.82), and the Tornado supernova remnant candidate (G357.7-0.1), are examined in detail. These data illustrate the potential for leveraging ground-based cosmic microwave background polarization experiments for Galactic science.