arXiv subjects

Jack Sayers

Publications and source records attributed to Jack Sayers.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Flat silicon gradient index lens with deep reactive-ion-etched 3-layer anti-reflection structure for millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths

We present the design, fabrication, and characterization of a 100 mm diameter, flat, gradient-index (GRIN) lens fabricated with high-resistivity silicon, combined with a three-layer anti-reflection (AR) structure optimized for 160-355 GHz. Multi-depth, deep reactive-ion etching (DRIE) enables patterning of silicon wafers with sub-wavelength structures (posts or holes) to locally change the effective refractive index and thus create anti-reflection layers and a radial index gradient. The structures are non-resonant and, for sufficiently long wavelengths, achromatic. Hexagonal holes varying in size with distance from the optical axis create a parabolic index profile decreasing from 3.15 at the center of the lens to 1.87 at the edge. The AR structure consists of square holes and cross-shaped posts. We have fabricated a lens consisting of a stack of five 525 $μ$m thick GRIN wafers and one AR wafer on each face. We have characterized the lens over the frequency range 220-330 GHz, obtaining behavior consistent with Gaussian optics down to -14 dB and transmittance between 75% and 100%.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

ICM-SHOX. Paper I: Methodology overview and discovery of a gas--dark matter velocity decoupling in the MACS J0018.5+1626 merger

Galaxy cluster mergers are rich sources of information to test cluster astrophysics and cosmology. However, cluster mergers produce complex projected signals that are difficult to interpret physically from individual observational probes. Multi-probe constraints on the gas and dark matter cluster components are necessary to infer merger parameters that are otherwise degenerate. We present ICM-SHOX (Improved Constraints on Mergers with SZ, Hydrodynamical simulations, Optical, and X-ray), a systematic framework to jointly infer multiple merger parameters quantitatively via a pipeline that directly compares a novel combination of multi-probe observables to mock observables derived from hydrodynamical simulations. We report a first application of the ICM-SHOX pipeline to MACS J0018.5+1626, wherein we systematically examine simulated snapshots characterized by a wide range of initial parameters to constrain the MACS J0018.5+1626 merger geometry. We constrain the epoch of MACS J0018.5+1626 to the range $0$--$60$ Myr post-pericenter passage, and the viewing angle is inclined $\approx 27$--$40$ degrees from the merger axis. We obtain constraints for the impact parameter ($\lesssim 250$ kpc), mass ratio ($\approx 1.5$--$3.0$), and initial relative velocity when the clusters are separated by 3 Mpc ($\approx 1700$--3000 km s$^{-1}$). The primary and secondary clusters initially (at 3 Mpc) have gas distributions that are moderately and strongly disturbed, respectively. We discover a velocity space decoupling of the dark matter and gas distributions in MACS J0018.5+1626, traced by cluster-member galaxy velocities and the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, respectively. Our simulations indicate this decoupling is dependent on the different collisional properties of the two distributions for particular merger epochs, geometries, and viewing angles.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

OLIMPO: a Balloon-Borne SZE Imager to Probe ICM Dynamics and the WHIM

OLIMPO is a proposed Antarctic balloon-borne Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) imager to study gas dynamics associated with structure formation along with the properties of the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) residing in the connective filaments. During a 25 day flight OLIMPO will image a total of 10 z~0.05 galaxy clusters and 8 bridges at 145, 250, 365, and 460 GHz at an angular resolution of 1.0'-3.3'. The maps will be significantly deeper than those planned from CMB-S4 and CCAT-P, and will have excellent fidelity to the large angular scales of our low-z targets, which are difficult to probe from the ground. In combination with X-ray data from eROSITA and XRISM we will transform our current static view of galaxy clusters into a full dynamic picture by measuring the internal intra-cluster medium (ICM) velocity structure with the kinematic SZE, X-ray spectroscopy, and the power spectrum of ICM fluctuations. Radio observations from ASKAP and MeerKAT will be used to better understand the connection between ICM turbulence and shocks with the relativistic plasma. Beyond the cluster boundary, we will combine thermal SZE maps from OLIMPO with X-ray imaging from eROSITA to measure the thermodynamics of the WHIM residing in filaments, providing a better understanding of its properties and its contribution to the total baryon budget.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Improved Constraints on Mergers with SZ, Hydrodynamical simulations, Optical, and X-ray (ICM-SHOX). Paper II: Galaxy cluster sample overview

Galaxy cluster mergers are representative of a wide range of physics, making them an excellent probe of the properties of dark matter and the ionized plasma of the intracluster medium. To date, most studies have focused on mergers occurring in the plane of the sky, where morphological features can be readily identified. To allow study of mergers with arbitrary orientation, we have assembled multi-probe data for the eight-cluster ICM-SHOX sample sensitive to both morphology and line of sight velocity. The first ICM-SHOX paper (Silich+2023) provided an overview of our methodology applied to one member of the sample, MACS J0018.5+1626, in order to constrain its merger geometry. That work resulted in an exciting new discovery of a velocity space decoupling of its gas and dark matter distributions. In this work, we describe the availability and quality of multi-probe data for the full ICM-SHOX galaxy cluster sample. These datasets will form the observational basis of an upcoming full ICM-SHOX galaxy cluster sample analysis.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

CHEX-MATE: CLUster Multi-Probes in Three Dimensions (CLUMP-3D), I. Gas Analysis Method using X-ray and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect Data

Galaxy clusters are the products of structure formation through myriad physical processes that affect their growth and evolution throughout cosmic history. As a result, the matter distribution within galaxy clusters, or their shape, is influenced by cosmology and astrophysical processes, in particular the accretion of new material due to gravity. We introduce an analysis method to investigate the 3D triaxial shapes of galaxy clusters from the Cluster HEritage project with XMM-Newton -- Mass Assembly and Thermodynamics at the Endpoint of structure formation (CHEX-MATE). In this work, the first paper of a CHEX-MATE triaxial analysis series, we focus on utilizing X-ray data from XMM and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect maps from Planck and ACT to obtain a three dimensional triaxial description of the intracluster medium (ICM) gas. We present the forward modeling formalism of our technique, which projects a triaxial ellipsoidal model for the gas density and pressure to compare directly with the observed two dimensional distributions in X-rays and the SZ effect. A Markov chain Monte Carlo is used to estimate the posterior distributions of the model parameters. Using mock X-ray and SZ observations of a smooth model, we demonstrate that the method can reliably recover the true parameter values. In addition, we apply the analysis to reconstruct the gas shape from the observed data of one CHEX-MATE galaxy cluster, Abell 1689, to illustrate the technique. The inferred parameters are in agreement with previous analyses for that cluster, and our results indicate that the geometrical properties, including the axial ratios of the ICM distribution, are constrained to within a few percent. With much better precision than previous studies, we thus further establish that Abell 1689 is significantly elongated along the line of sight, resulting in its exceptional gravitational lensing properties.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Characterization of the low electric field and zero-temperature two-level-system loss in hydrogenated amorphous silicon

Two-level systems (TLS) are an important, if not dominant, source of loss and noise for superconducting resonators such as those used in kinetic inductance detectors and some quantum information science platforms. They are similarly important for loss in photolithographically fabricated superconducting mm-wave/THz transmission lines. For both lumped-element and transmission-line structures, native amorphous surface oxide films are typically the sites of such TLS in non-microstripline geometries, while loss in the (usually amorphous) dielectric film itself usually dominates in microstriplines. We report here on the demonstration of low TLS loss at GHz frequencies in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition in superconducting lumped-element resonators using parallel-plate capacitors (PPCs). The values we obtain from two recipes in different deposition machines, 7$\,\times\,10^{-6}$ and 12$\,\times\,10^{-6}$, improve on the best achieved in the literature by a factor of 2--4 for a-Si:H and are comparable to recent measurements of amorphous germanium. Moreover, we have taken care to extract the true zero-temperature, low-field loss tangent of these films, accounting for temperature and field saturation effects that can yield misleading results. Such robustly fabricated and characterized films render the use of PPCs with deposited amorphous films a viable architecture for superconducting resonators, and they also promise extremely low loss and high quality factor for photolithographically fabricated superconducting mm-wave/THz transmission lines used in planar antennas and resonant filters.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2024

Hierarchical phased-array antennas coupled to Al KIDs: a scalable architecture for multi-band mm/submm focal planes

We present the optical characterization of two-scale hierarchical phased-array antenna kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) for millimeter/submillimeter wavelengths. Our KIDs have a lumped-element architecture with parallel plate capacitors and aluminum inductors. The incoming light is received with a hierarchical phased array of slot-dipole antennas, split into 4 frequency bands (between 125 GHz and 365 GHz) with on-chip lumped-element band-pass filters, and routed to different KIDs using microstriplines. Individual pixels detect light for the 3 higher frequency bands (190-365 GHz) and the signals from four individual pixels are coherently summed to create a larger pixel detecting light for the lowest-frequency band (125-175 GHz). The spectral response of the band-pass filters was measured using Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTS), the far-field beam pattern of the phased-array antennas was obtained using an infrared source mounted on a 2-axis translating stage, and the optical efficiency of the KIDs was characterized by observing loads at 294 K and 77 K. We report on the results of these three measurements.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2023

PCAT-DE: Reconstructing point-like and diffuse signals in astronomical images using spatial and spectral information

Observational data from astronomical imaging surveys contain information about a variety of source populations and environments, and its complexity will increase substantially as telescopes become more sensitive. Even for existing observations, measuring the correlations between point-like and diffuse emission can be crucial to correctly inferring the properties of any individual component. For this task information is typically lost, either because of conservative data cuts, aggressive filtering or incomplete treatment of contaminated data. We present the code PCAT-DE, an extension of probabilistic cataloging designed to simultaneously model point-like and diffuse signals. This work incorporates both explicit spatial templates and a set of non-parametric Fourier component templates into a forward model of astronomical images, reducing the number of processing steps applied to the observed data. Using synthetic Herschel-SPIRE multiband observations, we demonstrate that point source and diffuse emission can be reliably separated and measured. We present two applications of this model. For the first, we perform point source detection/photometry in the presence of galactic cirrus and demonstrate that cosmic infrared background (CIB) galaxy counts can be recovered in cases of significant contamination. In the second we show that the spatially extended thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect signal can be reliably measured even when it is subdominant to the point-like emission from individual galaxies.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2023

The Three Hundred Project: the evolution of physical baryon profiles

The distribution of baryons provides a significant way to understand the formation of galaxy clusters by revealing the details of its internal structure and changes over time. In this paper, we present theoretical studies on the scaled profiles of physical properties associated with the baryonic components, including gas density, temperature, metallicity, pressure and entropy as well as stellar mass, metallicity and satellite galaxy number density in galaxy clusters from $z=4$ to $z=0$ by tracking their progenitors. These mass-complete simulated galaxy clusters are coming from THE THREE HUNDRED with two runs: GIZMO-SIMBA and Gadget-X. Through comparisons between the two simulations, and with observed profiles which are generally available at low redshift, we find that (1) the agreements between the two runs and observations are mostly at outer radii $r \gtrsim 0.3r_{500}$, in line with the self-similarity assumption. While Gadget-X shows better agreements with the observed gas profiles in the central regions compared to GIZMO-SIMBA; (2) the evolution trends are generally consistent between the two simulations with slightly better consistency at outer radii. In detail, the gas density profile shows less discrepancy than the temperature and entropy profiles at high redshift. The differences in the cluster centre and gas properties imply different behaviours of the AGN models between Gadget-X and GIZMO-SIMBA, with the latter, maybe too strong for this cluster simulation. The high-redshift difference may be caused by the star formation and feedback models or hydrodynamics treatment, which requires observation constraints and understanding.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Deep Synoptic Array science: Two fast radio burst sources in massive galaxy clusters

The hot gas that constitutes the intracluster medium (ICM) has been studied at X-ray and millimeter/sub-millimeter wavelengths (Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect) for decades. Fast radio bursts (FRBs) offer an additional method of directly measuring the ICM and gas surrounding clusters, via observables such as dispersion measure (DM) and Faraday rotation measure (RM). We report the discovery of two FRB sources detected with the Deep Synoptic Array (DSA-110) whose host galaxies belong to massive galaxy clusters. In both cases, the FRBs exhibit excess extragalactic DM, some of which likely originates in the ICM of their respective clusters. FRB 20220914A resides in the galaxy cluster Abell 2310 at z=0.1125 with a projected offset from the cluster center of 520 kpc. The host of a second source, FRB 20220509G, is an elliptical galaxy at z=0.0894 that belongs to the galaxy cluster Abell 2311 at projected offset of 870 kpc. These sources represent the first time an FRB has been localized to a galaxy cluster. We combine our FRB data with archival X-ray, SZ, and optical observations of these clusters in order to infer properties of the ICM, including a measurement of gas temperature from DM and ySZ of 0.8-3.9 keV. We then compare our results to massive cluster halos from the IllustrisTNG simulation. Finally, we describe how large samples of localized FRBs from future surveys will constrain the ICM, particularly beyond the virial radius of clusters.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

The Evolution and Mass Dependence of Galaxy Cluster Pressure Profiles at 0.05 $\le z \le$ 0.60 and $4 \times 10^{14}$ M$_{\odot}$ $\le \textrm{M}_{500} \le 30 \times 10^{14}$ M$_{\odot}$

We have combined X-ray observations from Chandra with Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect data from Planck and Bolocam to measure intra-cluster medium pressure profiles from 0.03R$_{500}$ $\le$ R $\le$ 5R$_{500}$ for a sample of 21 low-$z$ galaxy clusters with a median redshift $\langle z \rangle = 0.08$ and a median mass $\langle \textrm{M}_{500} \rangle = 6.1 \times 10^{14}$ M$_{\odot}$ and a sample of 19 mid-$z$ galaxy clusters with $\langle z \rangle = 0.50$ and $\langle \textrm{M}_{500} \rangle = 10.6 \times 10^{14}$ M$_{\odot}$. The mean scaled pressure in the low-$z$ sample is lower at small radii and higher at large radii, a trend that is accurately reproduced in similarly selected samples from The300 simulations. This difference appears to be primarily due to dynamical state at small radii, evolution at intermediate radii, and a combination of evolution and mass dependence at large radii. Furthermore, the overall flattening of the mean scaled pressure profile in the low-$z$ sample compared to the mid-$z$ sample is consistent with expectations due to differences in mass accretion rate and the fractional impact of feedback mechanisms. In agreement with previous studies, the fractional scatter about the mean scaled pressure profile reaches a minimum of $\simeq 20$ per cent near 0.5R$_{500}$. This scatter is consistent between the low-$z$ and mid-$z$ samples at all radii, suggesting it is not strongly impacted by sample selection, and this general behavior is reproduced in The300 simulations. Finally, analytic functions that approximately describe the mass and redshift trends in mean pressure profile shape are provided.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

A multi-chroic kinetic inductance detectors array using hierarchical phased array antenna

We present a multi-chroic kinetic inductance detector (KID) pixel design integrated with a broadband hierarchical phased-array antenna. Each low-frequency pixel consists of four high-frequency pixels. Four passbands are designed from 125 to 365 GHz according to the atmospheric windows. The lumped element KIDs consist of 100-nm thick AlMn inductors and Nb parallel plate capacitors with hydrogenated amorphous Si dielectric. Two different coupling structures are designed to couple millimeter-wave from microstrip lines to KIDs. The KID designs are optimized for a 10-m-class telescope at a high, dry site, for example, the Leighton Chajnantor Telescope. Preliminary measurement results using Al KIDs are discussed.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

CHEX-MATE: pressure profiles of 6 galaxy clusters as seen by SPT and Planck

Pressure profiles are sensitive probes of the thermodynamic conditions and the internal structure of galaxy clusters. The intra-cluster gas resides in hydrostatic equilibrium within the Dark Matter gravitational potential. However, this equilibrium may be perturbed, e.g. as a consequence of thermal energy losses, feedback and non-thermal pressure supports. Accurate measures of the gas pressure over the cosmic times are crucial to constrain the cluster evolution as well as the contribution of astrophysical processes. In this work we presented a novel algorithm to derive the pressure profiles of galaxy clusters from the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) signal measured on a combination of Planck and South Pole Telescope (SPT) observations. The synergy of the two instruments made it possible to track the profiles on a wide range of spatial scales. We exploited the sensitivity to the larger scales of the Planck High-Frequency Instrument to observe the faint peripheries, and the higher spatial resolution of SPT to solve the innermost regions. We developed a two-step pipeline to take advantage of the specifications of each instrument. We first performed a component separation on the two data-sets separately to remove the background (CMB) and foreground (galactic emission) contaminants. Then we jointly fitted a parametric pressure profile model on a combination of Planck and SPT data. We validated our technique on a sample of 6 CHEX-MATE clusters detected by SPT. We compare the results of the SZ analysis with profiles derived from X-ray observations with XMM-Newton. We find an excellent agreement between these two independent probes of the gas pressure structure.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

A kinetic inductance detectors array design for high background conditions at 150 GHz

We present a design for an array of kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) integrated with phased array antennas for imaging at 150 GHz under high background conditions. The microstrip geometry KID detectors are projected to achieve photon noise limited sensitivity with larger than 100 pW absorbed optical power. Both the microstrip KIDs and the antenna feed network make use of a low-loss amorphous silicon dielectric. A new aspect of the antenna implementation is the use of a NbTiN microstrip feed network to facilitate impedance matching to the 50 Ohm antenna. The array has 256 pixels on a 6-inch wafer and each pixel has two polarizations with two Al KIDs. The KIDs are designed with a half wavelength microstrip transmission line with parallel plate capacitors at the two ends. The resonance frequency range is 400 to 800 MHz. The readout feedline is also implemented in microstrip and has an impedance transformer from 50 Ohm to 9 Ohm at its input and output.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2021

Measurement of the Relativistic Sunyaev-Zeldovich Corrections in RX J1347.5-1145

We present a measurement of the relativistic corrections to the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect spectrum, the rSZ effect, toward the massive galaxy cluster RX J1347.5-1145 by combining sub-mm images from Herschel-SPIRE with mm-wave Bolocam maps. Our analysis simultaneously models the SZ effect signal, the population of cosmic infrared background (CIB) galaxies, and galactic cirrus dust emission in a manner that fully accounts for their spatial and frequency-dependent correlations. Gravitational lensing of background galaxies by RX J1347.5-1145 is included in our methodology based on a mass model derived from HST observations. Utilizing a set of realistic mock observations, we employ a forward modelling approach that accounts for the non-Gaussian covariances between observed astrophysical components to determine the posterior distribution of SZ effect brightness values consistent with the observed data. We determine a maximum a posteriori (MAP) value of the average Comptonization parameter of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) within R$_{2500}$ to be $\langle y \rangle_{2500} = 1.56 \times 10^{-4}$, with corresponding 68~per cent credible interval $[1.42,1.63] \times 10^{-4}$, and a MAP ICM electron temperature of $\langle \textrm{T}_{\textrm{sz}} \rangle_{2500} = 22.4$~keV with 68~per cent credible interval spanning $[10.4,33.0]$~keV. This is in good agreement with the pressure-weighted temperature obtained from {\it Chandra} X-ray observations, $\langle \textrm{T}_{\textrm{x,pw}}\rangle_{2500} = 17.4 \pm 2.3$~keV. We aim to apply this methodology to comparable existing data for a sample of 39 galaxy clusters, with an estimated uncertainty on the ensemble mean $\langle \textrm{T}_{\textrm{sz}} \rangle_{2500}$ at the $\simeq 1$~keV level, sufficiently precise to probe ICM physics and to inform X-ray temperature calibration.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

The Lack of Non-Thermal Motions in Galaxy Cluster Cores

We report the non-thermal pressure fraction (Pnt/Ptot) obtained from a three-dimensional triaxial analysis of 16 galaxy clusters in the CLASH sample using gravitational lensing (GL) data primarily from Subaru and HST, X-ray spectroscopic imaging from Chandra, and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) data from Planck and Bolocam. Our results span the approximate radial range 0.015-0.4R200m (35-1000 kpc). At cluster-centric radii smaller than 0.1R200m the ensemble average Pnt/Ptot is consistent with zero with an upper limit of nine per cent, indicating that heating from active galactic nuclei and other relevant processes does not produce significant deviations from hydrostatic equilibrium (HSE). The ensemble average Pnt/Ptot increases outside of this radius to approximately 20 per cent at 0.4R200m, as expected from simulations, due to newly accreted material thermalizing via a series of shocks. Also in agreement with simulations, we find significant cluster-to-cluster variation in Pnt/Ptot and little difference in the ensemble average Pnt/Ptot based on dynamical state. We conclude that on average, even for diverse samples, HSE-derived masses in the very central regions of galaxy clusters require only modest corrections due to non-thermal motions.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2021

Measuring $H_0$ using X-ray and SZ effect observations of dynamically relaxed galaxy clusters

We use a sample of 14 massive, dynamically relaxed galaxy clusters to constrain the Hubble Constant, $H_0$, by combining X-ray and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect signals measured with Chandra, Planck and Bolocam. This is the first such analysis to marginalize over an empirical, data-driven prior on the overall accuracy of X-ray temperature measurements, while our restriction to the most relaxed, massive clusters also minimizes astrophysical systematics. For a cosmological-constant model with $Ω_m = 0.3$ and $Ω_Λ = 0.7$, we find $H_0 = 67.3^{+21.3}_{-13.3}$ km/s/Mpc, limited by the temperature calibration uncertainty (compared to the statistically limited constraint of $H_0 = 72.3^{+7.6}_{-7.6}$ km/s/Mpc). The intrinsic scatter in the X-ray/SZ pressure ratio is found to be $13 \pm 4$ per cent ($10 \pm 3$ per cent when two clusters with significant galactic dust emission are removed from the sample), consistent with being primarily due to triaxiality and projection. We discuss the prospects for reducing the dominant systematic limitation to this analysis, with improved X-ray calibration and/or precise measurements of the relativistic SZ effect providing a plausible route to per cent level constraints on $H_0$.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

Astrophysics with the Spatially and Spectrally Resolved Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effects: A Millimetre/Submillimetre Probe of the Warm and Hot Universe

In recent years, observations of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect have had significant cosmological implications and have begun to serve as a powerful and independent probe of the warm and hot gas that pervades the Universe. As a few pioneering studies have already shown, SZ observations both complement X-ray observations -- the traditional tool for studying the intra-cluster medium -- and bring unique capabilities for probing astrophysical processes at high redshifts and out to the low-density regions in the outskirts of galaxy clusters. Advances in SZ observations have largely been driven by developments in centimetre-, millimetre-, and submillimetre-wave instrumentation on ground-based facilities, with notable exceptions including results from the Planck satellite. Here we review the utility of the thermal, kinematic, relativistic, non-thermal, and polarised SZ effects for studies of galaxy clusters and other large scale structures, incorporating the many advances over the past two decades that have impacted SZ theory, simulations, and observations. We also discuss observational results, techniques, and challenges, and aim to give an overview and perspective on emerging opportunities, with the goal of highlighting some of the exciting new directions in this field.

astro-ph.CO↗