Clustering of Diffuse Infrared Background Light

Abstract

The cosmic infrared background from galaxies should have a minimum fluctuation of the order of 10\% on angular scales probed by the DIRBE (Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment) on board COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer). We present the theoretical basis for the analysis and discuss the all-sky all-wavelengths survey that we conducted. We further show that a linear combination of maps at different wavelengths can greatly reduce the fluctuations produced by foreground stars in the near-IR, while not eliminating the fluctuations of the background from high redshift galaxies. The method is potentially very powerful, especially at wavelengths in the mid- to far-IR where the foreground is bright but smooth.