BeyondPlanck XIII. Intensity foreground sampling, degeneracies, and priors

TL;DR

This paper introduces advanced intensity foreground sampling algorithms within the BeyondPlanck framework, improving the stability and efficiency of Galactic foreground parameter estimation in CMB data analysis.

Contribution

It develops novel algorithms for joint spectral and amplitude sampling, monopole determination, and the use of informative priors, enhancing foreground modeling in CMB analysis.

Findings

Peak frequency of anomalous microwave emission detected at 25.3 GHz

Other spectral parameters constrained by external priors

Degeneracies in foreground parameters identified and partially addressed

Abstract

We present the intensity foreground algorithms and model employed within the BeyondPlanck analysis framework. The BeyondPlanck analysis is aimed at integrating component separation and instrumental parameter sampling within a global framework, leading to complete end-to-end error propagation in the $Planck$ Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) data analysis. Given the scope of the BeyondPlanck analysis, a limited set of data is included in the component separation process, leading to foreground parameter degeneracies. In order to properly constrain the Galactic foreground parameters, we improve upon the previous $\texttt{Commander}$ component separation implementation by adding a suite of algorithmic techniques. These algorithms are designed to improve the stability and computational efficiency for weakly constrained posterior distributions. These are: 1) joint foreground spectral parameter and amplitude sampling, building on ideas from Miramare; 2) component-based monopole determination; 3) joint spectral parameter and monopole sampling; and 4) application of informative spatial priors for component amplitude maps. We find that the only spectral parameter with a significant signal-to-noise ratio using the current BeyondPlanck data set is the peak frequency of the anomalous microwave emission component, for which we find $\nu_{\mathrm{p}}=25.3\pm0.5$ GHz; all others must be constrained through external priors. Future works will be aimed at integrating many more data sets into this analysis, both map and time-ordered based, thereby gradually eliminating the currently observed degeneracies in a controlled manner with respect to both instrumental systematic effects and astrophysical degeneracies. When this happens, the simple LFI-oriented data model employed in the current work will need to be generalized to account for both a richer astrophysical model and additional instrumental effects.