Small-scale structure of the galactic cirrus emission

Abstract

We examined the Fourier power spectrum characteristics of cirrus structures in 13 sky fields with faint to bright cirrus emission observed with ISOPHOT in the 90-200 μm wavelength range in order to study variations of the spectral index α. We found that α varies from field to field with -5.3 ≤ α ≤ -2.1. It depends on the absolute surface brightness and on the hydrogen column density. We also found different spectral indices for the same sky region at different wavelengths. Longer wavelength measurements show steeper power spectra. This can be explained by the presence of dust at various temperatures, in particular of a cold extended component. For the faintest areas of the far-infrared sky we derive a wavelength-independent spectral index of α = -2.3 ± 0.6 for the cirrus power spectrum. The application of the correct spectral index is a precondition for the proper disentanglement of the cirrus foreground component of the Cosmic Far-Infrared Background and its fluctuations.