Assigned ID: 89 ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Wed Feb 24 16:09:27 GMT 2010) ----- The cosmic infrared background (CIB) contains accumulated emission from objects and epochs inaccessible to direct telescopic studies. Using deep Spitzer/IRAC data we have succeeded in detecting spatial structure (fluctuations) in the CIB at arcminute angular scales. This was achieved by applying sophisticated map-making procedures designed to self-calibrate the data and avoid adding any correlations in the noise. The IRAC maps were then masked and cleaned of resolved sources, which permits the detection of residual fluctuations well above the instrument noise and remaining systematics. This signal possibly originates in early stellar populations, but potentially it can also contain contribution from very small, and so far unobserved, local populations. This proposal designs an experiment, using the HST WFC3 data at near-IR wavelengths, to directly identify the epoch and nature of the populations that produce the observed CIB fluctuations. We will employ cross-correlation analysis of WFC3 data with the source-subtracted images constructed by us and also compute/constrain source-subtracted CIB fluctuations at WFC3 wavelengths down to the level limited by the instrument noise and systematics.

COSMOLOGY 12 129312 false 0.0 0.0 false false false false false false SUPPORTED