Polarization fluctuations due to extragalactic sources
Abstract
We have derived the relationship between polarization and intensity fluctuations due to point sources. In the case of a Poisson distribution of a population with uniform evolution properties and constant polarization degree, polarization fluctuations are simply equal to intensity fluctuations times the average polarization degree. Conservative estimates of the polarization degree of the classes of extragalactic sources contributing to fluctuations in the frequency ranges covered by the forthcoming space missions MAP and Planck Surveyor indicate that extragalactic sources will not be a strong limiting factor to measurements of the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9908058,
title = {Polarization fluctuations due to extragalactic sources},
author = {G. De Zotti and C. Gruppioni and P. Ciliegi and C. Burigana and L. Danese},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9908058},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
15 pages LaTeX file, 3 postscript figures. Uses elsart.sty and elsart.cls Accepted for publication in New Astronomy