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Contributions to the Power Spectrum of Cosmic Microwave Background from Fluctuations Caused by Clusters of Galaxies

S. M. Molnar·M. Birkinshaw
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Abstract

We estimate the contributions to the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) power spectrum from the static and kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effects, and from the moving cluster of galaxies (MCG) effect. We conclude, in agreement with other studies, that at sufficiently small scales secondary fluctuations caused by clusters provide important contributions to the CMBR. At $\ell \gtrsim 3000$, these secondary fluctuations become important relative to lensed primordial fluctuations. Gravitational lensing at small angular scales has been proposed as a way to break the ``geometric degeneracy'' in determining fundamental cosmological parameters. We show that this method requires the separation of the static SZ effect, but the kinematic SZ effect and the MCG effect are less important. The power spectrum of secondary fluctuations caused by clusters of galaxies, if separated from the spectrum of lensed primordial fluctuations, might provide an independent constraint on several important cosmological parameters.

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S. M. Molnar, M. Birkinshaw. 2000-02-13. Contributions to the Power Spectrum of Cosmic Microwave Background from Fluctuations Caused by Clusters of Galaxies. https://doi.org/10.1086/309042

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