arXiv subjects

A. D. Hincks

Publications and source records attributed to A. D. Hincks.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Polarization Angle Swings in Blazars Detected in the Millimeter-wave with the South Pole Telescope

We present the first systematic search for electric vector position angle (EVPA) swings in the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) emission of blazars, using five years of observations from the South Pole Telescope SPT-3G camera at 95 and 150 GHz, and investigate their connection to gamma-ray flares. Of the 168 bright sources in the ~1500 square degrees SPT-3G Main Field, eight have sufficient polarization signal-to-noise for reliable EVPA measurement, four of which have continuous Fermi LAT gamma-ray detections. We detect EVPA swings in all four gamma-ray-active blazars and in none of the remaining four, consistent with the established connection between EVPA swings and high-energy emission seen at optical wavelengths. The observed swing amplitudes and rotation rates are smaller than those found in optical studies, consistent with mm-wave EVPA variability being slower than at shorter wavelengths. Random walk simulations of the polarization angle using a multi-cell model fail to reproduce both the number, amplitude, and duration of the observed swings, suggesting that this mechanism is insufficient to explain the observed swing population. Analysis of EVPA variability on one-week timescales is consistent with the anti-correlation between polarization degree and EVPA rotation rate previously observed at optical wavelengths. Of the 14 detected swings, eight are within 30 days of a gamma-ray flare. While many individual swing-flare associations are found to have a very low probability of happening by chance, the full ensembles of 95 and 150 GHz swing time lags with respect to gamma-ray flares are found to be consistent with random coincidence.

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arXiv2026

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Selected Galaxy Clusters Catalog

We present the results of a search for galaxy clusters in the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) Data Release 6 (DR6) microwave sky maps covering 16293 square degrees in three frequency bands, using data obtained over the lifetime of the project (2008-2022). We report redshifts and mass estimates for 10040 clusters detected via their Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect with signal-to-noise greater than 4 at a 2.4 arcminute filter scale. The catalog includes 1180 clusters at redshifts greater than 1, and 124 clusters at redshifts greater than 1.5. Using a relation between cluster SZ signal and mass that is consistent with recent weak-lensing measurements, we estimate that clusters detected with signal-to-noise greater than 5 form a sample which is 90% complete for clusters with masses greater than $5 \times 10^{14}$ MSun (measured within a spherical volume with mean density 500 times the critical density). El Gordo, a cluster found in an initial ACT survey of 755 square degrees, remains the most extreme cluster in mass and redshift; we find no cluster with a mass and redshift combination high enough to falsify the standard LCDM cosmology with Gaussian initial perturbations. We make public a variety of data products, including the full cluster candidate list, noise maps, and sky masks, along with our software for cluster detection and instructions for reproducing our cluster catalogs from the public ACT maps.

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arXiv2025

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A census of bridges between galaxy clusters

According to CMB measurements, baryonic matter constitutes about $5\%$ of the mass-energy density of the universe. A significant population of these baryons, for a long time referred to as `missing', resides in a low density, warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) outside galaxy clusters, tracing the ``cosmic web'', a network of large scale dark matter filaments. Various studies have detected this inter-cluster gas, both by stacking and by observing individual filaments in compact, massive systems. In this paper, we study short filaments (< 10 Mpc) connecting massive clusters ($M_{500} \approx 3\times 10^{14} M_{\odot}$) detected by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) using the scattering of CMB light off the ionised gas, a phenomenon known as the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect. The first part of this work is a search for suitable candidates for high resolution follow-up tSZ observations. We identify four cluster pairs with an intercluster signal above the noise floor (S/N $>$ 2), including two with a tentative $>2σ$ statistical significance for an intercluster bridge from the ACT data alone. In the second part of this work, starting from the same cluster sample, we directly stack on ${\sim}100$ cluster pairs and observe an excess SZ signal between the stacked clusters of $y=(7.2^{+2.3}_{-2.5})\times 10^{-7}$ with a significance of $3.3σ$. It is the first tSZ measurement of hot gas between clusters in this range of masses at moderate redshift ($\langle z\rangle\approx 0.5$). We compare this to the signal from simulated cluster pairs with similar redshifts and separations in the THE300 and MAGNETICUM Pathfinder cosmological simulations and find broad consistency. Additionally, we show that our measurement is consistent with scaling relations between filament parameters and mass of the embedded halos identified in simulations.

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arXiv2022

Cross-correlation of DES Y3 lensing and ACT/${\it Planck}$ thermal Sunyaev Zel'dovich Effect II: Modeling and constraints on halo pressure profiles

Hot, ionized gas leaves an imprint on the cosmic microwave background via the thermal Sunyaev Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect. The cross-correlation of gravitational lensing (which traces the projected mass) with the tSZ effect (which traces the projected gas pressure) is a powerful probe of the thermal state of ionized baryons throughout the Universe, and is sensitive to effects such as baryonic feedback. In a companion paper (Gatti et al. 2021), we present tomographic measurements and validation tests of the cross-correlation between galaxy shear measurements from the first three years of observations of the Dark Energy Survey, and tSZ measurements from a combination of Atacama Cosmology Telescope and ${\it Planck}$ observations. In this work, we use the same measurements to constrain models for the pressure profiles of halos across a wide range of halo mass and redshift. We find evidence for reduced pressure in low mass halos, consistent with predictions for the effects of feedback from active galactic nuclei. We infer the hydrostatic mass bias ($B \equiv M_{500c}/M_{\rm SZ}$) from our measurements, finding $B = 1.8\pm0.1$ when adopting the ${\it Planck}$-preferred cosmological parameters. We additionally find that our measurements are consistent with a non-zero redshift evolution of $B$, with the correct sign and sufficient magnitude to explain the mass bias necessary to reconcile cluster count measurements with the ${\it Planck}$-preferred cosmology. Our analysis introduces a model for the impact of intrinsic alignments (IA) of galaxy shapes on the shear-tSZ correlation. We show that IA can have a significant impact on these correlations at current noise levels.

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arXiv2022

Superclustering with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and Dark Energy Survey: I. Evidence for thermal energy anisotropy using oriented stacking

The cosmic web contains filamentary structure on a wide range of scales. On the largest scales, superclustering aligns multiple galaxy clusters along inter-cluster bridges, visible through their thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich signal in the Cosmic Microwave Background. We demonstrate a new, flexible method to analyze the hot gas signal from multi-scale extended structures. We use a Compton-$y$ map from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) stacked on redMaPPer cluster positions from the optical Dark Energy Survey (DES). Cutout images from the $y$ map are oriented with large-scale structure information from DES galaxy data such that the superclustering signal is aligned before being overlaid. We find evidence for an extended quadrupole moment of the stacked $y$ signal at the 3.5$σ$ level, demonstrating that the large-scale thermal energy surrounding galaxy clusters is anisotropically distributed. We compare our ACT$\times$DES results with the Buzzard simulations, finding broad agreement. Using simulations, we highlight the promise of this novel technique for constraining the evolution of anisotropic, non-Gaussian structure using future combinations of microwave and optical surveys.

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arXiv2021

Cross-correlation of DES Y3 lensing and ACT/${\it Planck}$ thermal Sunyaev Zel'dovich Effect I: Measurements, systematics tests, and feedback model constraints

We present a tomographic measurement of the cross-correlation between thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) maps from ${\it Planck}$ and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and weak galaxy lensing shears measured during the first three years of observations of the Dark Energy Survey (DES Y3). This correlation is sensitive to the thermal energy in baryons over a wide redshift range, and is therefore a powerful probe of astrophysical feedback. We detect the correlation at a statistical significance of $21σ$, the highest significance to date. We examine the tSZ maps for potential contaminants, including cosmic infrared background (CIB) and radio sources, finding that CIB has a substantial impact on our measurements and must be taken into account in our analysis. We use the cross-correlation measurements to test different feedback models. In particular, we model the tSZ using several different pressure profile models calibrated against hydrodynamical simulations. Our analysis marginalises over redshift uncertainties, shear calibration biases, and intrinsic alignment effects. We also marginalise over $Ω_{\rm m}$ and $σ_8$ using ${\it Planck}$ or DES priors. We find that the data prefers the model with a low amplitude of the pressure profile at small scales, compatible with a scenario with strong AGN feedback and ejection of gas from the inner part of the halos. When using a more flexible model for the shear profile, constraints are weaker, and the data cannot discriminate between different baryonic prescriptions.

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arXiv2020

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Catalog of > 4000 Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Galaxy Clusters

We present a catalog of 4195 optically confirmed Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) selected galaxy clusters detected with signal-to-noise > 4 in 13,211 deg$^2$ of sky surveyed by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). Cluster candidates were selected by applying a multi-frequency matched filter to 98 and 150 GHz maps constructed from ACT observations obtained from 2008-2018, and confirmed using deep, wide-area optical surveys. The clusters span the redshift range 0.04 < z < 1.91 (median z = 0.52). The catalog contains 222 z > 1 clusters, and a total of 868 systems are new discoveries. Assuming an SZ-signal vs. mass scaling relation calibrated from X-ray observations, the sample has a 90% completeness mass limit of M500c > 3.8 x 10$^{14}$ MSun, evaluated at z = 0.5, for clusters detected at signal-to-noise ratio > 5 in maps filtered at an angular scale of 2.4'. The survey has a large overlap with deep optical weak-lensing surveys that are being used to calibrate the SZ-signal mass-scaling relation, such as the Dark Energy Survey (4566 deg$^2$), the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (469 deg$^2$), and the Kilo Degree Survey (825 deg$^2$). We highlight some noteworthy objects in the sample, including potentially projected systems; clusters with strong lensing features; clusters with active central galaxies or star formation; and systems of multiple clusters that may be physically associated. The cluster catalog will be a useful resource for future cosmological analyses, and studying the evolution of the intracluster medium and galaxies in massive clusters over the past 10 Gyr.

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arXiv2017

Detection of the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect with BOSS DR11 and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope

We present a new measurement of the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect using data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Using 600 square degrees of overlapping sky area, we evaluate the mean pairwise baryon momentum associated with the positions of 50,000 bright galaxies in the BOSS DR11 Large Scale Structure catalog. A non-zero signal arises from the large-scale motions of halos containing the sample galaxies. The data fits an analytical signal model well, with the optical depth to microwave photon scattering as a free parameter determining the overall signal amplitude. We estimate the covariance matrix of the mean pairwise momentum as a function of galaxy separation, using microwave sky simulations, jackknife evaluation, and bootstrap estimates. The most conservative simulation-based errors give signal-to-noise estimates between 3.6 and 4.1 for varying galaxy luminosity cuts. We discuss how the other error determinations can lead to higher signal-to-noise values, and consider the impact of several possible systematic errors. Estimates of the optical depth from the average thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich signal at the sample galaxy positions are broadly consistent with those obtained from the mean pairwise momentum signal.

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arXiv2016

On the redshift distribution and physical properties of ACT-selected DSFGs

We present multi-wavelength detections of nine candidate gravitationally-lensed dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) selected at 218GHz (1.4mm) from the ACT equatorial survey. Among the brightest ACT sources, these represent the subset of the total ACT sample lying in Herschel SPIRE fields, and all nine of the 218GHz detections were found to have bright Herschel counterparts. By fitting their spectral energy distributions (SEDs) with a modified blackbody model with power-law temperature distribution, we find the sample has a median redshift of $z=4.1^{+1.1}_{-1.0}$ (68 per cent confidence interval), as expected for 218GHz selection, and an apparent total infrared luminosity of $\log_{10}(μL_{\rm IR}/{\rm L}_\odot) = 13.86^{+0.33}_{-0.30}$, which suggests that they are either strongly lensed sources or unresolved collections of unlensed DSFGs. The effective apparent diameter of the sample is $\sqrtμd= 4.2^{+1.7}_{-1.0}$kpc, further evidence of strong lensing or multiplicity, since the typical diameter of dusty star-forming galaxies is $1.0$--$2.5$ kpc. We emphasize that the effective apparent diameter derives from SED modelling without the assumption of optically thin dust (as opposed to image morphology). We find that the sources have substantial optical depth ($τ= 4.2^{+3.7}_{-1.9}$) to dust around the peak in the modified blackbody spectrum ($λ_{\rm obs} \le 500$ $μ$m), a result that is robust to model choice.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2016

Weak-Lensing Mass Calibration of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Equatorial Sunyaev-Zeldovich Cluster Sample with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Stripe 82 Survey

Mass calibration uncertainty is the largest systematic effect for using clusters of galaxies to constrain cosmological parameters. We present weak lensing mass measurements from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Stripe 82 Survey for galaxy clusters selected through their high signal-to-noise thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) signal measured with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). For a sample of 9 ACT clusters with a tSZ signal-to-noise greater than five the average weak lensing mass is $\left(4.8\pm0.8\right)\,\times10^{14}\,\mathrm{M}_\odot$, consistent with the tSZ mass estimate of $\left(4.70\pm1.0\right)\,\times10^{14}\,\mathrm{M}_\odot$ which assumes a universal pressure profile for the cluster gas. Our results are consistent with previous weak-lensing measurements of tSZ-detected clusters from the Planck satellite. When comparing our results, we estimate the Eddington bias correction for the sample intersection of Planck and weak-lensing clusters which was previously excluded.

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arXiv2016

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: The polarization-sensitive ACTPol instrument

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) is designed to make high angular resolution measurements of anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) at millimeter wavelengths. We describe ACTPol, an upgraded receiver for ACT, which uses feedhorn-coupled, polarization-sensitive detector arrays, a 3 degree field of view, 100 mK cryogenics with continuous cooling, and meta material anti-reflection coatings. ACTPol comprises three arrays with separate cryogenic optics: two arrays at a central frequency of 148 GHz and one array operating simultaneously at both 97 GHz and 148 GHz. The combined instrument sensitivity, angular resolution, and sky coverage are optimized for measuring angular power spectra, clusters via the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich and kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich signals, and CMB lensing due to large scale structure. The receiver was commissioned with its first 148 GHz array in 2013, observed with both 148 GHz arrays in 2014, and has recently completed its first full season of operations with the full suite of three arrays. This paper provides an overview of the design and initial performance of the receiver and related systems.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2015

Advanced ACTPol Cryogenic Detector Arrays and Readout

Advanced ACTPol is a polarization-sensitive upgrade for the 6 m aperture Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), adding new frequencies and increasing sensitivity over the previous ACTPol receiver. In 2016, Advanced ACTPol will begin to map approximately half the sky in five frequency bands (28-230 GHz). Its maps of primary and secondary cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies -- imaged in intensity and polarization at few arcminute-scale resolution -- will enable precision cosmological constraints and also a wide array of cross-correlation science that probes the expansion history of the universe and the growth of structure via gravitational collapse. To accomplish these scientific goals, the Advanced ACTPol receiver will be a significant upgrade to the ACTPol receiver, including four new multichroic arrays of cryogenic, feedhorn-coupled AlMn transition edge sensor (TES) polarimeters (fabricated on 150 mm diameter wafers); a system of continuously rotating meta-material silicon half-wave plates; and a new multiplexing readout architecture which uses superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) and time division to achieve a 64-row multiplexing factor. Here we present the status and scientific goals of the Advanced ACTPol instrument, emphasizing the design and implementation of the Advanced ACTPol cryogenic detector arrays.

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arXiv2013

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: likelihood for small-scale CMB data

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope has measured the angular power spectra of microwave fluctuations to arcminute scales at frequencies of 148 and 218 GHz, from three seasons of data. At small scales the fluctuations in the primordial Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) become increasingly obscured by extragalactic foregounds and secondary CMB signals. We present results from a nine-parameter model describing these secondary effects, including the thermal and kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ and kSZ) power; the clustered and Poisson-like power from Cosmic Infrared Background (CIB) sources, and their frequency scaling; the tSZ-CIB correlation coefficient; the extragalactic radio source power; and thermal dust emission from Galactic cirrus in two different regions of the sky. In order to extract cosmological parameters, we describe a likelihood function for the ACT data, fitting this model to the multi-frequency spectra in the multipole range 500<ell<10000. We extend the likelihood to include spectra from the South Pole Telescope at frequencies of 95, 150, and 220 GHz. Accounting for different radio source levels and Galactic cirrus emission, the same model provides an excellent fit to both datasets simultaneously, with chi2/dof= 675/697 for ACT, and 96/107 for SPT. We then use the multi-frequency likelihood to estimate the CMB power spectrum from ACT in bandpowers, marginalizing over the secondary parameters. This provides a simplified `CMB-only' likelihood in the range 500<ell<3500 for use in cosmological parameter estimation.

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arXiv2011

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Sunyaev Zel'dovich Selected Galaxy Clusters at 148 GHz in the 2008 Survey

We report on twenty-three clusters detected blindly as Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) decrements in a 148 GHz, 455 square-degree map of the southern sky made with data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope 2008 observing season. All SZ detections announced in this work have confirmed optical counterparts. Ten of the clusters are new discoveries. One newly discovered cluster, ACT-CL J0102-4915, with a redshift of 0.75 (photometric), has an SZ decrement comparable to the most massive systems at lower redshifts. Simulations of the cluster recovery method reproduce the sample purity measured by optical follow-up. In particular, for clusters detected with a signal-to-noise ratio greater than six, simulations are consistent with optical follow-up that demonstrated this subsample is 100% pure. The simulations further imply that the total sample is 80% complete for clusters with mass in excess of 6x10^14 solar masses referenced to the cluster volume characterized by five hundred times the critical density. The Compton y -- X-ray luminosity mass comparison for the eleven best detected clusters visually agrees with both self-similar and non-adiabatic, simulation-derived scaling laws.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2011

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Extragalactic Sources at 148 GHz in the 2008 Survey

We report on extragalactic sources detected in a 455 square-degree map of the southern sky made with data at a frequency of 148 GHz from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope 2008 observing season. We provide a catalog of 157 sources with flux densities spanning two orders of magnitude: from 15 to 1500 mJy. Comparison to other catalogs shows that 98% of the ACT detections correspond to sources detected at lower radio frequencies. Three of the sources appear to be associated with the brightest cluster galaxies of low redshift X-ray selected galaxy clusters. Estimates of the radio to mm-wave spectral indices and differential counts of the sources further bolster the hypothesis that they are nearly all radio sources, and that their emission is not dominated by re-emission from warm dust. In a bright (>50 mJy) 148 GHz-selected sample with complete cross-identifications from the Australia Telescope 20 GHz survey, we observe an average steepening of the spectra between 5, 20, and 148 GHz with median spectral indices of $α_{\rm 5-20} = -0.07 \pm 0.06$, $α_{\rm 20-148} = -0.39 \pm0.04$, and $α_{\rm 5-148} = -0.20 \pm 0.03$. When the measured spectral indices are taken into account, the 148 GHz differential source counts are consistent with previous measurements at 30 GHz in the context of a source count model dominated by radio sources. Extrapolating with an appropriately rescaled model for the radio source counts, the Poisson contribution to the spatial power spectrum from synchrotron-dominated sources with flux density less than 20 mJy is $C^{\rm Sync} = (2.8 \pm 0.3) \times 10^{-6} \micro\kelvin^2$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT): Beam Profiles and First SZ Cluster Maps

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) is currently observing the cosmic microwave background with arcminute resolution at 148 GHz, 218 GHz, and 277 GHz. In this paper, we present ACT's first results. Data have been analyzed using a maximum-likelihood map-making method which uses B-splines to model and remove the atmospheric signal. It has been used to make high-precision beam maps from which we determine the experiment's window functions. This beam information directly impacts all subsequent analyses of the data. We also used the method to map a sample of galaxy clusters via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect, and show five clusters previously detected with X-ray or SZ observations. We provide integrated Compton-y measurements for each cluster. Of particular interest is our detection of the z = 0.44 component of A3128 and our current non-detection of the low-redshift part, providing strong evidence that the further cluster is more massive as suggested by X-ray measurements. This is a compelling example of the redshift-independent mass selection of the SZ effect.

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arXiv2010

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Cosmological Parameters from the 2008 Power Spectra

We present cosmological parameters derived from the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation observed at 148 GHz and 218 GHz over 296 deg^2 with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) during its 2008 season. ACT measures fluctuations at scales 500<l<10000. We fit a model for the lensed CMB, Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ), and foreground contribution to the 148 GHz and 218 GHz power spectra, including thermal and kinetic SZ, Poisson power from radio and infrared point sources, and clustered power from infrared point sources. The power from thermal and kinetic SZ at 148 GHz is estimated to be B_3000 = 6.8+-2.9 uK^2, where B_l=l(l+1)C_l/2pi. We estimate primary cosmological parameters from the 148 GHz spectrum, marginalizing over SZ and source power. The LCDM cosmological model is a good fit to the data, and LCDM parameters estimated from ACT+WMAP are consistent with the 7-year WMAP limits, with scale invariant n_s = 1 excluded at 99.7% CL (3sigma). A model with no CMB lensing is disfavored at 2.8sigma. By measuring the third to seventh acoustic peaks, and probing the Silk damping regime, the ACT data improve limits on cosmological parameters that affect the small-scale CMB power. The ACT data combined with WMAP give a 6sigma detection of primordial helium, with Y_P = 0.313+-0.044, and a 4sigma detection of relativistic species, assumed to be neutrinos, with Neff = 5.3+-1.3 (4.6+-0.8 with BAO+H0 data). From the CMB alone the running of the spectral index is constrained to be dn/dlnk = -0.034 +- 0.018, the limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio is r<0.25 (95% CL), and the possible contribution of Nambu cosmic strings to the power spectrum is constrained to string tension Gmu<1.6 \times 10^-7 (95% CL).

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2010

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Measurement of the 600< ell <8000 Cosmic Microwave Background Power Spectrum at 148 GHz

We present a measurement of the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation observed at 148 GHz. The measurement uses maps with 1.4' angular resolution made with data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). The observations cover 228 square degrees of the southern sky, in a 4.2-degree-wide strip centered on declination 53 degrees South. The CMB at arcminute angular scales is particularly sensitive to the Silk damping scale, to the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect from galaxy clusters, and to emission by radio sources and dusty galaxies. After masking the 108 brightest point sources in our maps, we estimate the power spectrum between 600 < \ell < 8000 using the adaptive multi-taper method to minimize spectral leakage and maximize use of the full data set. Our absolute calibration is based on observations of Uranus. To verify the calibration and test the fidelity of our map at large angular scales, we cross-correlate the ACT map to the WMAP map and recover the WMAP power spectrum from 250 < ell < 1150. The power beyond the Silk damping tail of the CMB is consistent with models of the emission from point sources. We quantify the contribution of SZ clusters to the power spectrum by fitting to a model normalized at sigma8 = 0.8. We constrain the model's amplitude ASZ < 1.63 (95% CL). If interpreted as a measurement of sigma8, this implies sigma8^SZ < 0.86 (95% CL) given our SZ model. A fit of ACT and WMAP five-year data jointly to a 6-parameter LCDM model plus terms for point sources and the SZ effect is consistent with these results.

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