Paper: astro-ph/0603449

Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 18:35:44 GMT (1021kb)

Title: Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Three Year Results:
Implications for Cosmology

Authors: D. N. Spergel, R. Bean, O. Dore', M. R. Nolta, C. L. Bennett, G.
Hinshaw, N. Jarosik, E. Komatsu, L. Page, H. V. Peiris, L. Verde, C. Barnes,
M. Halpern, R. S. Hill, A. Kogut, M. Limon, S. S. Meyer, N. Odegard, G. S.
Tucker, J. L. Weiland, E. Wollack, E. L. Wright

Comments: 89 pages, 28 figures, submitted to ApJ
\\
A simple cosmological model with only six parameters (matter density, Omega_m
h^2, baryon density, Omega_b h^2, Hubble Constant, H_0, amplitude of
fluctuations, sigma_8, optical depth, tau, and a slope for the scalar
perturbation spectrum, n_s) fits not only the three year WMAP temperature and
polarization data, but also small scale CMB data, light element abundances,
large-scale structure observations, and the supernova luminosity/distance
relationship. Using WMAP data only, the best fit values for cosmological
parameters for the power-law flat LCDM model are (Omega_m h^2, Omega_b h^2, h,
n_s, tau, sigma_8) = (0.127+0.007-0.013, 0.0223+0.0007-0.0009, 0.73 +- 0.03,
0.951+0.015-0.019, 0.09 +- 0.03, 0.74+0.05-0.06). The three year data
dramatically shrink the allowed volume in this six-dimensional parameter space.
Assuming that the primordial fluctuations are adiabatic with a power law
spectrum, the WMAP data_alone_ require dark matter, and a spectral index that
is significantly less than the Harrison-Zel'dovich-Peebles scale-invariant
spectrum (n_s=1,r=0). Models that suppress large-scale power through a running
spectral index or a large-scale cut-off in the power spectrum are a slightly
better fit to the WMAP and small scale CMB data than the power-law LCDM model
(Delta chi^2 = 3) The combination of WMAP and other astronomical data yields
significant constraints on the geometry of the universe, the equation of state
of the dark energy, the gravitational wave energy density, and neutrino
properties. Consistent with the predictions of simple inflationary theories, we
detect no significant deviations from Gaussianity in the CMB maps.

\\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0603449 , 1022kb)

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Paper: astro-ph/0603450

Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2006 19:34:46 GMT (2546kb)

Title: Three Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations:
Polarization Analysis

Authors: L. Page, G. Hinshaw, E. Komatsu, M. R. Nolta, D. N. Spergel, C. L.
Bennett, C. Barnes, R. Bean, O. Dore', M. Halpern, R. S. Hill, N. Jarosik, A.
Kogut, M. Limon, S. S. Meyer, N. Odegard, H. V. Peiris, G. S. Tucker, L.
Verde, J. L. Weiland, E. Wollack, E. L. Wright

Comments: 46 pages, 28 figures, submitted to ApJ
\\
The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe WMAP has mapped the entire sky in
five frequency bands between 23 and 94 GHz with polarization sensitive
radiometers. We present three-year full-sky maps of the polarization and
analyze them for foreground emission and cosmological implications. These
observations open up a new window for understanding the universe. WMAP observes
significant levels of polarized foreground emission due to both Galactic
synchrotron radiation and thermal dust emission. The least contaminated channel
is at 61 GHz. Informed by a model of the Galactic foreground emission, we
subtract the foreground emission from the maps. In the foreground corrected
maps, for l=2-6, we detect l(l+1) C_l^{EE} / (2 pi) = 0.086 +-0.029
microkelvin^2. This is interpreted as the result of rescattering of the CMB by
free electrons released during reionization and corresponds to an optical depth
of tau = 0.09 +- 0.03. We see no evidence for B-modes, limiting them to l(l+1)
C_l^{BB} / (2 pi) = -0.04 +- 0.03 microkelvin^2. We find that the limit from
the polarization signals alone is r<2.2 (95% CL) corresponding to a limit on
the cosmic density of gravitational waves of Omega_{GW}h^2 < 5 times 10^{-12}.

From the full WMAP analysis, we find r<0.55 (95% CL) corresponding to a limit
of Omega_{GW}h^2 < 10^{-12} (95% CL).

\\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0603450 , 2546kb)

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Paper: astro-ph/0603451

Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2006 19:47:49 GMT (2480kb)

Title: Three-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations:
Temperature Analysis

Authors: G. Hinshaw, M. R. Nolta, C. L. Bennett, R. Bean, O. Dore', M. R.
Greason, M. Halpern, R. S. Hill, N. Jarosik, A. Kogut, E. Komatsu, M. Limon,
N. Odegard, S. S. Meyer, L. Page, H. V. Peiris, D. N. Spergel, G. S. Tucker,
L. Verde, J. L. Weiland, E. Wollack, E. L. Wright

Comments: 93 pages, 24 figures, submitted to ApJ
\\

We present new full-sky temperature maps in five frequency bands from 23 to
94 GHz, based on the first three years of the WMAP sky survey. The new maps,
which are consistent with the first-year maps and more sensitive, incorporate
improvements in data processing made possible by the additional years of data
and by a more complete analysis of the polarization signal. These include
refinements in the gain calibration and beam response models. We employ two
forms of multi-frequency analysis to separate astrophysical foreground signals
from the CMB, each of which improves on our first-year analyses. First, we form
an improved 'Internal Linear Combination' map, based solely on WMAP data, by
adding a bias correction step and by quantifying residual uncertainties in the
resulting map. Second, we fit and subtract new spatial templates that trace
Galactic emission; in particular, we now use low-frequency WMAP data to trace
synchrotron emission. The WMAP point source catalog is updated to include 115
new sources. We derive the angular power spectrum of the temperature anisotropy
using a hybrid approach that combines a maximum likelihood estimate at low l
(large angular scales) with a quadratic cross-power estimate for l>10. Our best
estimate of the CMB power spectrum is derived by averaging cross-power spectra
from 153 statistically independent channel pairs. The combined spectrum is
cosmic variance limited to l=400, and the signal-to-noise ratio per l-mode
exceeds unity up to l=850. The first two acoustic peaks are seen at l=220.7 +-
0.7 and l=531.3 +- 3.5, respectively, while the first two troughs are seen at
l=412.8 +- 1.9 and l=674.6 +- 12.1, respectively. The rise to the third peak is
unambiguous; when the WMAP data are combined with higher resolution CMB
measurements, the existence of a third acoustic peak is well established.

\\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0603451 , 2310kb)

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Paper: astro-ph/0603452

Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2006 19:44:11 GMT (2127kb)

Title: Three-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations:
Beam Profiles, Data Processing, Radiometer Characterization and Systematic
Error Limits

Authors: N. Jarosik, C. Barnes, M. R. Greason, R. S. Hill, M. R. Nolta, N.
Odegard, J. L. Weiland, R. Bean, C. L. Bennett, O. Dore', M. Halpern, G.
Hinshaw, A. Kogut, E. Komatsu, M. Limon, S. S. Meyer, L. Page, D. N. Spergel,
G. S. Tucker, E. Wollack, E. L. Wright

Comments: 49 pages, 13 figures, submitted to ApJ
\\

The WMAP satellite has now completed 3 years of observations of the cosmic
microwave background radiation. The 3-year data products include several sets
of full sky maps of the Stokes I, Q and U parameters in 5 frequency bands,
spanning 23 to 94 GHz, and supporting items, such as beam window functions and
noise covariance matrices. The processing used to produce the current sky maps
and supporting products represents a significant advancement over the first
year analysis, and is described herein. Improvements to the pointing
reconstruction, radiometer gain modeling, window function determination and
radiometer spectral noise parametrization are presented. A detailed description
of the updated data processing that produces maximum likelihood sky map
estimates is presented, along with the methods used to produce reduced
resolution maps and corresponding noise covariance matrices. Finally two
methods used to evaluate the noise of the full resolution sky maps are
presented along with several representative year-to-year null tests,
demonstrating that sky maps produced from data from different observational
epochs are consistent.

\\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0603452 , 2127kb)