The Extragalactic Radio Background

The existence of an isotropic component of the high-latitude radio sky has been recognized for nearly fifty years, but has typically been assumed to be Galactic in origin. We use recent radio observations to test whether the observed high-latitude component could originate within either an extended Galactic halo or a more local "bubble" structure. The lack of significant polarization from the isotropic component, combined with the lack of significant correlation with the Galactic far-infrared emission, rule out an origin within the Galaxy. We conclude that an extragalactic origin is the only viable alternative for the bulk of the isotropic high-latitude emission. The extragalactic component is 2-3 times brighter than local (Galactic) emission towards the Galactic poles and is consistent with a power law in frequency with amplitude T(sub r) = 24.1 plus or minus 2.1 K and spectral index beta = -2.599 plus or minus 0.036 evaluated at reference frequency 310 MHz.