BISPECTRUM OF THE SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT
- High Energy Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439 (United States)
- Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)
- Department of Physics, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 2T8 (Canada)
We perform a detailed study of the bispectrum of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect. Using an analytical model for the pressure profiles of the intracluster medium, we demonstrate the SZ bispectrum to be a sensitive probe of the amplitude of the matter power spectrum parameter {sigma}{sub 8}. We find that the bispectrum amplitude scales as B {sub tSZ}{proportional_to}{sigma}{sup 11-12} {sub 8}, compared to that of the power spectrum, which scales as A {sub tSZ}{proportional_to}{sigma}{sup 7-9} {sub 8}. We show that the SZ bispectrum is principally sourced by massive clusters at redshifts around z {approx} 0.4, which have been well studied observationally. This is in contrast to the SZ power spectrum, which receives a significant contribution from less well understood low-mass and high-redshift groups and clusters. Therefore, the amplitude of the bispectrum at l {approx} 3000 is less sensitive to astrophysical uncertainties than the SZ power spectrum. We show that current high-resolution cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments should be able to detect the SZ bispectrum amplitude with high significance, in part due to the low contamination from extragalactic foregrounds. A combination of the SZ bispectrum and the power spectrum can sharpen the measurements of thermal and kinetic SZ components and help distinguish cosmological and astrophysical information from high-resolution CMB maps.
- OSTI ID:
- 22086386
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 760, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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