Spurious Point Source Signals in the Galactic Center Excess
We reexamine evidence that the Galactic Center Excess (GCE) originates primarily from point sources (PSs). We show that in our region of interest, non-Poissonian template fitting evidence for GCE PSs is an artifact of unmodeled north-south asymmetry of the GCE. This asymmetry is strongly favored by...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Physical Society (APS)
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/135500 |
| _version_ | 1826196226646736896 |
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| author | Leane, Rebecca K Slatyer, Tracy R |
| author_facet | Leane, Rebecca K Slatyer, Tracy R |
| author_sort | Leane, Rebecca K |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We reexamine evidence that the Galactic Center Excess (GCE) originates primarily from point sources (PSs). We show that in our region of interest, non-Poissonian template fitting evidence for GCE PSs is an artifact of unmodeled north-south asymmetry of the GCE. This asymmetry is strongly favored by the fit (although it is unclear if this is physical), and when it is allowed, the preference for PSs becomes insignificant. We reproduce this behavior in simulations, including detailed properties of the spurious PS population. We conclude that the non-Poissonian template fitting evidence for GCE PSs is highly susceptible to certain systematic errors and should not at present be taken to robustly disfavor a dominantly smooth GCE. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:23:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/135500 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:23:31Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | American Physical Society (APS) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1355002021-10-28T04:30:56Z Spurious Point Source Signals in the Galactic Center Excess Leane, Rebecca K Slatyer, Tracy R We reexamine evidence that the Galactic Center Excess (GCE) originates primarily from point sources (PSs). We show that in our region of interest, non-Poissonian template fitting evidence for GCE PSs is an artifact of unmodeled north-south asymmetry of the GCE. This asymmetry is strongly favored by the fit (although it is unclear if this is physical), and when it is allowed, the preference for PSs becomes insignificant. We reproduce this behavior in simulations, including detailed properties of the spurious PS population. We conclude that the non-Poissonian template fitting evidence for GCE PSs is highly susceptible to certain systematic errors and should not at present be taken to robustly disfavor a dominantly smooth GCE. 2021-10-27T20:23:44Z 2021-10-27T20:23:44Z 2020 2021-07-09T15:48:28Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/135500 en 10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.125.121105 Physical Review Letters Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Physical Society (APS) APS |
| spellingShingle | Leane, Rebecca K Slatyer, Tracy R Spurious Point Source Signals in the Galactic Center Excess |
| title | Spurious Point Source Signals in the Galactic Center Excess |
| title_full | Spurious Point Source Signals in the Galactic Center Excess |
| title_fullStr | Spurious Point Source Signals in the Galactic Center Excess |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spurious Point Source Signals in the Galactic Center Excess |
| title_short | Spurious Point Source Signals in the Galactic Center Excess |
| title_sort | spurious point source signals in the galactic center excess |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/135500 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT leanerebeccak spuriouspointsourcesignalsinthegalacticcenterexcess AT slatyertracyr spuriouspointsourcesignalsinthegalacticcenterexcess |