Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A measurement of galaxy cluster temperatures through relativistic corrections to the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect

The high electron temperature in galaxy clusters ( <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <a:mo>&gt;</a:mo> <a:mn>1</a:mn> <a:mtext> </a:mtext> <a:mtext> </a:mtext> <a:mi>keV</a:mi> </a:math> or <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <c:mo>&gt;</c:mo> <c:msup> <c:mn>10</c:mn> <c:mn>7</c:mn> </c:msup> <c:mtext> </c:mtext> <c:mtext> </c:mtext> <c:mi mathvariant="normal">K</c:mi> </c:math> ) leads to corrections at the level of a few percent in their thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect signatures. Both the size and frequency dependence of these corrections, which are known as relativistic temperature corrections, depend upon the temperature of the objects. In this work we exploit this effect to measure the average temperature of a stack of Compton- <f:math xmlns:f="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <f:mi>y</f:mi> </f:math> selected clusters. Specifically, we apply the “spectroscopic method” and search for the temperature that best fits the clusters’ signal measured at frequencies from 30 to 545 GHz by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and satellite. We measure the average temperature of clusters detected in the Atacama Cosmology Telescope maps to be <h:math xmlns:h="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <h:mn>8.5</h:mn> <h:mo>±</h:mo> <h:mn>2.4</h:mn> <h:mtext> </h:mtext> <h:mtext> </h:mtext> <h:mi>keV</h:mi> </h:math> , with an additional systematic error of comparable amplitude dominated by passband uncertainty. Upcoming surveys, such as the Simons Observatory and CMB-S4, have the potential to dramatically improve upon these measurements and thereby enable precision studies of cluster temperatures with millimeter observations. The key challenge for future observations will be mitigating instrumental systematic effects, which already limit this analysis.

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Journal
Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
Published
2025-12-23
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/n7p5-pc66
Primary Topic
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
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article
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article

Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A measurement of galaxy cluster temperatures through relativistic corrections to the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect

E. S. Battistelli, Joshiwa van Marrewijk, Carlos Hervías-Caimapo, S. Ferraro et al.
Physical review. D/Physical review. D.
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
article

Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A measurement of galaxy cluster temperatures through relativistic corrections to the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect

E. S. Battistelli, Joshiwa van Marrewijk, Carlos Hervías-Caimapo, S. Ferraro, Zachary Atkins, Matt Hilton, S. Choi, Mathew S. Madhavacheril, Adriaan J. Duivenvoorden, B. D. Sherwin, Nicholas Battaglia, E. Schaan, David N. Spergel, Hongbo Cai, Lyman A. Page, Kevin D. Crowley, Jo Dunkley, Mark J. Devlin, Adam D. Hincks, Eve M. Vavagiakis, Neelima Sehgal, Anonymous, Yilun Guan, J Richard Bond, Alexander Van Engelen, Cristóbal Sifón, Edward J. Wollack, Erminia Calabrese, Fiona McCarthy, Kavilan Moodley, Michael D. Niemack, J. Colin Hill, Bruce Partridge, Tony Mroczkowski
article en

Abstract

The high electron temperature in galaxy clusters ( <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <a:mo>&gt;</a:mo> <a:mn>1</a:mn> <a:mtext> </a:mtext> <a:mtext> </a:mtext> <a:mi>keV</a:mi> </a:math> or <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <c:mo>&gt;</c:mo> <c:msup> <c:mn>10</c:mn> <c:mn>7</c:mn> </c:msup> <c:mtext> </c:mtext> <c:mtext> </c:mtext> <c:mi mathvariant="normal">K</c:mi> </c:math> ) leads to corrections at the level of a few percent in their thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect signatures. Both the size and frequency dependence of these corrections, which are known as relativistic temperature corrections, depend upon the temperature of the objects. In this work we exploit this effect to measure the average temperature of a stack of Compton- <f:math xmlns:f="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <f:mi>y</f:mi> </f:math> selected clusters. Specifically, we apply the “spectroscopic method” and search for the temperature that best fits the clusters’ signal measured at frequencies from 30 to 545 GHz by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and satellite. We measure the average temperature of clusters detected in the Atacama Cosmology Telescope maps to be <h:math xmlns:h="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <h:mn>8.5</h:mn> <h:mo>±</h:mo> <h:mn>2.4</h:mn> <h:mtext> </h:mtext> <h:mtext> </h:mtext> <h:mi>keV</h:mi> </h:math> , with an additional systematic error of comparable amplitude dominated by passband uncertainty. Upcoming surveys, such as the Simons Observatory and CMB-S4, have the potential to dramatically improve upon these measurements and thereby enable precision studies of cluster temperatures with millimeter observations. The key challenge for future observations will be mitigating instrumental systematic effects, which already limit this analysis.

Physical review. D/Physical review. D.Vol. 113(4)
University of California, Riverside (US), Leiden University (NL), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (CL), Goddard Space Flight Center (US), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US), Haverford College (US), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (CL), University of Pittsburgh (US), University of Toronto (CA), University of the Witwatersrand (ZA), Princeton University (US), Cornell University (US), University of Cambridge (GB), Vatican Secret Archives (VA), SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (US), University of California San Diego (US), California University of Pennsylvania (US), Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (US), Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (DE), Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CA), Flatiron Health (United States) (US), Flatiron Institute (US), Leiden Observatory, Arizona State University (US), Stony Brook University (US), Columbia University (US), Cardiff University (GB), Sapienza University of Rome (IT), University of KwaZulu-Natal (ZA), University of California, Berkeley (US)
National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, Compute Canada, Government of Ontario, National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Flatiron Health, University of Toronto, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Openalex Percentile: Top 31%
Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
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