Cluster Cosmology

h1. Archive of discussed papers

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h2. 18.01.13 The Formation of Massive Cluster Galaxies

Conor L. Mancone, Anthony H. Gonzalez, Mark Brodwin, Spencer A. Stanford, Peter R. M. Eisenhardt, Daniel Stern, Christine Jones

(Submitted on 8 Jul 2010)

We present composite 3.6 and 4.5 micron luminosity functions for cluster galaxies measured from the Spitzer Deep, Wide-Field Survey (SDWFS) for 0.3<z<2. We compare the evolution of m* for these luminosity functions to models for passively evolving stellar populations to constrain the primary epoch of star formation in massive cluster galaxies. At low redshifts (z < 1.3) our results agree well with models with no mass assembly and passively evolving stellar populations with a luminosity-weighted mean formation redshift zf=2.4 assuming a Kroupa initial mass function (IMF). We conduct a thorough investigation of systematic biases that might influence our results, and estimate systematic uncertainites of Delta zf=(+0.16-0.18) (model normalization), Delta zf=(+0.40-0.05) (alpha), and Delta zf=(+0.30-0.45) (choice of stellar population model). For a Salpeter type IMF, the typical formation epoch is thus strongly constrained to be z ~2-3. Higher formation redshifts can only be made consistent with the data if one permits an evolving IMF that is bottom-light at high redshift, as suggested by van Dokkum et al 2008. At high redshift (z > 1.3) we also witness a statistically significant (>5sigma) disagreement between the measured luminosity function and the continuation of the passive evolution model from lower redshifts. After considering potential systematic biases that might influence our highest redshift data points, we interpret the observed deviation as potential evidence for ongoing mass assembly at this epoch.

http://arXiv.org/abs/1007.1454v1

h2. 11.01.13: *The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Selected Galaxy Clusters at 148 GHz from Three Seasons of Data*

h3. The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Selected Galaxy Clusters at 148 GHz from Three Seasons of Data

Matthew Hasselfield, Matt Hilton, Tobias A. Marriage, Graeme E. Addison, L. Felipe Barrientos, Nick Battaglia, Elia S. Battistelli, J. Richard Bond, Devin Crichton, Sudeep Das, Mark J. Devlin, Simon R. Dicker, Joanna Dunkley, Rolando Dunner, Joseph W. Fowler, Megan B. Gralla, Amir Hajian, Mark Halpern, Adam D. Hincks, Renée Hlozek, John P. Hughes, Leopoldo Infante, Kent D. Irwin, Arthur Kosowsky, Danica Marsden, Felipe Menanteau, Kavilan Moodley, Michael D. Niemack, Michael R. Nolta, Lyman A. Page, Bruce Partridge, Erik D. Reese, Benjamin L. Schmitt, Neelima Sehgal, Blake D. Sherwin, Jon Sievers, Cristóbal Sifón, David N. Spergel, Suzanne T. Staggs, Daniel S. Swetz, Eric R. Switzer, Robert Thornton, Hy Trac, Edward J. Wollack

(Submitted on 4 Jan 2013)

[Abridged] We present a catalog of 68 galaxy clusters, of which 19 are new discoveries, detected via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZ) at 148 GHz in the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) survey of 504 square degrees on the celestial equator. A subsample of 48 clusters within the 270 square degree region overlapping SDSS Stripe 82 is estimated to be 90% complete for M_500c > 4.5e14 Msun and 0.15 < z < 0.8. While matched filters are used to detect the clusters, the sample is studied further through a "Profile Based Amplitude Analysis" using a single filter at a fixed \theta_500 = 5.9' angular scale. This new approach takes advantage of the "Universal Pressure Profile" (UPP) to break the degeneracy between the cluster extent (R_500) and the integrated Compton parameter (Y_500). The UPP scalings are found to be nearly identical to an adiabatic model, while a model incorporating non-thermal pressure better matches dynamical mass measurements and masses from the South Pole Telescope. A complete, high signal to noise ratio subsample of 15 ACT clusters is used to obtain cosmological constraints. We first confirm that constraints from SZ data are limited by uncertainty in the scaling relation parameters rather than sample size or measurement uncertainty. We next add in seven clusters from the ACT Southern survey, including their dynamical mass measurements based on galaxy velocity dispersions. In combination with WMAP7 these data simultaneously constrain the scaling relation and cosmological parameters, yielding \sigma_8 = 0.829 \pm 0.024 and \Omega_m = 0.292 \pm 0.025. The results include marginalization over a 15% bias in dynamical mass relative to the true halo mass. In an extension to LCDM that incorporates non-zero neutrino mass density, we combine our data with WMAP7+BAO+Hubble constant measurements to constrain \Sigma m_\nu < 0.29 eV (95% C. L.).

http://arXiv.org/abs/1301.0816

h3. The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Cosmological parameters from three seasons of data

Jonathan L. Sievers, Renée A. Hlozek, Michael R. Nolta, Viviana Acquaviva, Graeme E. Addison, Peter A. R. Ade, Paula Aguirre, Mandana Amiri, John William Appel, L. Felipe Barrientos, Elia S. Battistelli, Nick Battaglia, J. Richard Bond, Ben Brown, Bryce Burger, Erminia Calabrese, Jay Chervenak, Devin Crichton, Sudeep Das, Mark J. Devlin, Simon R. Dicker, W. Bertrand Doriese, Joanna Dunkley, Rolando Dünner, Thomas Essinger-Hileman, David Faber, Ryan P. Fisher, Joseph W. Fowler, Patricio Gallardo, Michael S. Gordon, Megan B. Gralla, Amir Hajian, Mark Halpern, Matthew Hasselfield, Carlos Hernández-Monteagudo, J. Colin Hill, Gene C. Hilton, Matt Hilton, Adam D. Hincks, Dave Holtz, Kevin M. Huffenberger, David H. Hughes, John P. Hughes, Leopoldo Infante, Kent D. Irwin, David R. Jacobson, et al. (47 additional authors not shown)

(Submitted on 4 Jan 2013)

We present constraints on cosmological and astrophysical parameters from high-resolution microwave background maps at 148 GHz and 218 GHz made by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) in three seasons of observations from 2008 to 2010. A model of primary cosmological and secondary foreground parameters is fit to the map power spectra and lensing deflection power spectrum, including contributions from both the thermal and kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect, Poisson and correlated anisotropy from unresolved infrared sources, radio sources, and the correlation between the thermal SZ effect and infrared sources. The power ell^2 C_ell/2pi of the thermal SZ power spectrum at 148 GHz is measured to be 3.4 + /-1.4 muK^2 at ell=3000, while the corresponding amplitude of the kinematic SZ power spectrum has a 95 percent confidence level upper limit of 8.6 muK^2. Combining ACT power spectra with the WMAP 7-year temperature and polarization power spectra, we find excellent consistency with the LCDM model. We constrain the number of effective relativistic degrees of freedom in the early universe to be Neff=2.78 + / -  0.55, in agreement with the canonical value of Neff=3.046 for three massless neutrinos. We constrain the sum of the neutrino masses to be Sigma m_nu < 0.39 eV at 95% confidence when combining ACT and WMAP 7-year data with BAO and Hubble constant measurements. We constrain the amount of primordial helium to be Yp = 0.226 + / - 0.032, and measure no variation in the fine structure constant alpha since recombination, with alpha/alpha_0 = 1.004+/- 0.005. We also find no evidence for any running of the scalar spectral index, dns/dln k = - 0.003 +/- 0.013.

http://arXiv.org/abs/1301.0824

h2. 21.12.12: *Clusters of galaxies and variation of the fine structure constant & Telescopes don't make catalogues!*

h3. Clusters of galaxies and variation of the fine structure constant

S. Galli

(Submitted on 5 Dec 2012)

We propose a new method to probe for variations in the fine structure constant alpha using clusters of galaxies, opening up a window on a new redshift range for such constraints. Hot clusters shine in the X-ray mainly due to bremsstrahlung, while they leave an imprint on the CMB frequency spectrum through the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. These two physical processes can be characterized by the integrated Comptonization parameter Y_SZ DA^2 and its X-ray counterpart, the Y_X parameter. The ratio of these two quantities is expected to be constant from numerical simulations and current observations. We show that this fact can be exploited to constrain alpha, as the ratio of the two parameters depends on the fine structure constant as alpha^{3.5}. We determine current constraints from a combination of Planck SZ and XMM-Newton data, testing different models of variation of alpha. When fitting for a constant value of alpha, we find that current constraints are at the 1% level, comparable with current CMB constraints. We discuss strategies for further improving these constraints by almost an order of magnitude.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1212.1075

h3. Telescopes don't make catalogues!

David W. Hogg and Dustin Lang

(Submitted on 4 Aug 2010)

Astronomical instruments make intensity measurements; any precise astronomical experiment ought to involve modeling those measurements. People make catalogues, but because a catalogue requires hard decisions about calibration and detection, no catalogue can contain all of the information in the raw pixels relevant to most scientific investigations. Here we advocate making catalogue-like data outputs that permit investigators to test hypotheses with almost the power of the original image pixels. The key is to provide users with approximations to likelihood tests against the raw image pixels. We advocate three options, in order of increasing difficulty: The first is to define catalogue entries and associated uncertainties such that the catalogue contains the parameters of an approximate description of the image-level likelihood function. The second is to produce a K-catalogue sampling in "catalogue space" that samples a posterior probability distribution of catalogues given the data. The third is to expose a web service or equivalent that can re-compute on demand the full image-level likelihood for any user-supplied catalogue.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1008.0738

h2. 14.12.12: *Bias from gas inhomogeneities in the pressure profiles as measured from X-ray and SZ observations*

S. Khedekar, E. Churazov, A. Kravtsov, I. Zhuravleva, E. T. Lau, D. Nagai, R. Sunyaev

(Submitted on 14 Nov 2012)

X-ray observations of galaxy clusters provide emission measure weighted spectra, arising from a range of density and temperature fluctuations in the intra-cluster medium (ICM). This is fitted to a single temperature plasma emission model to provide an estimate of the gas density and temperature, which are sensitive to the gas inhomogeneities. Therefore, X-ray observations yield a potentially biased estimate of the thermal gas pressure, P_X. At the same time Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) observations directly measure the integrated gas pressure, P_SZ. If the X-ray pressure profiles are strongly biased with respect to to the SZ, then one has the possibility to probe the gas inhomogeneities, even at scales unresolved by the current generation of telescopes. At the same time, a weak bias has implications for the use of mass proxies like Y_SZ and Y_X as cosmological probes. In this paper we investigate the dependence of the bias, P_X(r)/P_SZ(r)-1, on the characteristics of fluctuations in the ICM taking into account the correlation between temperature and density fluctuations. We made a simple prediction of the irreducible bias in idealised X-ray vs SZ observations using multi-temperature plasma emission model. We also provide a simple fitting form to estimate the bias given the distribution of fluctuations. Analysing a sample of 16 simulated clusters extracted from hydrodynamical simulations, we find that the median value of bias is within +/-3% within R_500, it decreases to - 5% at R_500 < r < 1.5R_500 and then rises back to ~0% at > 2R_500. The scatter of b_P(r) between individual relaxed clusters is small -- at the level of <0.03 within R_500, but turns significantly larger (0.25) and highly skewed at r > 1.5 R_500. Unrelaxed clusters display larger scatter (both from radius to radius and from cluster to cluster). Nevertheless, the bias remains within +/-20% within 0.8R_500 for all clusters.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1211.3358

Votes: *2*

h2. 05.12.12: *Order statistics applied to the most massive and most distant galaxy clusters*

Jean-Claude Waizmann, Stefano Ettori, Matthias Bartelmann

(Submitted on 22 Oct 2012)

In this work we present for the first time an analytic framework for calculating the individual and joint distributions of the n-th most massive or n-th highest redshift galaxy cluster for a given survey characteristic allowing to formulate LCDM exclusion criteria. We show that the cumulative distribution functions steepen with increasing order, giving them a higher constraining power with respect to the extreme value statistics. Additionally, we find that the order statistics in mass (being dominated by clusters at lower redshifts) is sensitive to the matter density and the normalisation of the matter fluctuations, whereas the order statistics in redshift is particularly sensitive to the geometric evolution of the Universe. For a fixed cosmology, both order statistics are efficient probes of the functional shape of the mass function at the high mass end. To allow a quick assessment of both order statistics, we provide fits as a function of the survey area that allow percentile estimation with an accuracy better than two per cent. Furthermore, we discuss the joint distributions in the two-dimensional case for different combinations of order. 

Having introduced the theory, we apply the order statistical analysis to the SPT massive cluster sample and MCXC catalogue and find that the ten most massive clusters in the sample are consistent with LCDM and the Tinker mass function. In turn, by assuming the LCDM reference cosmology, order statistics can also be utilised for consistency checks of the completeness of the observed sample and of the modelling of the survey selection function. [abridged]

http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.6021