Zemcov, M. and Ade, P.A.R. and Bock, J.J. and Bowden, M. and Brown, M.L. and Cahill, G. and Castro, P.G. and Church, S. and Culverhouse, T. and Freidman, R.B. and Ganga, K. and Gear, W.K. and Gupta, S. and Hinderks, J. and Kovac, J. and Lange, A.E. and Leitch, E. and Melhuish, S.J. and Memari, Y. and Murphy, J.Anthony and Orlando, A. and O'Sullivan, Créidhe and Piccirillo, L. and Pryke, C. and Rajguru, N. and Rusholme, B. and Schwarz, R. and Taylor, A.N. and Thompson, K.L. and Turner, A.H. and Wu, E.Y.S. (2010) Characterization of the Millimeter-Wave Polarization of Centaurus A with Quad. Astrophysical Journal, 710 (2). pp. 1541-1550. ISSN 0004-637X

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Abstract

Centaurus (Cen) A represents one of the best candidates for an isolated, compact, highly polarized source that is bright at typical cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment frequencies. We present measurements of the 4°×2° region centered on Cen A with QUaD, a CMB polarimeter whose absolute polarization angle is known to 0°.5. Simulations are performed to assess the effect of misestimation of the instrumental parameters on the final measurement, and systematic errors due to the field’s background structure and temporal variability from Cen A’s nuclear region are determined. The total (Q,U) of the inner lobe region is (1.00±0.07(stat.)± 0.04(sys.),-1.72±0.06±0.05) Jy at 100 GHz and (0.80±0.06±0.06,-1.40±0.07±0.08) Jy at 150 GHz, leading to polarization angles and total errors of -30°.0±1°.1 and -29°.1±1°.7. These measurements will allow the use of Cen A as a polarized calibration source for future millimeter experiments

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	The final and definitive version of this article is available at doi:10.1088/0004-637X/710/2/1541
Keywords:	QUAD Collaboration; cosmic background radiation; galaxies; Centaurus A; instrumentation; polarimeters; radio continuum;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Experimental Physics
Item ID:	3965
Depositing User:	Dr. Anthony Murphy
Date Deposited:	06 Nov 2012 16:29
Journal or Publication Title:	Astrophysical Journal
Publisher:	Institute of Physics
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://www.iop.org/ http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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