Published in 1999, Physics Reports, 310, 97.
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THE SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT
Department of
Physics, University
of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK
ABSTRACT. The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect causes a change in the
apparent brightness of the
Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation towards a cluster of galaxies or
any other reservoir of hot plasma. Measurements of the effect provide
distinctly different information about cluster properties than X-ray
imaging data, while combining X-ray and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect data
leads to new
insights into the structures of cluster atmospheres. The effect is
redshift-independent, and so provides a unique probe of the
structure of the Universe on the largest scales. The
present review discusses the theory of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect
and collects published results for many clusters, presents the
overall conclusions that may be drawn from the detections so
far, and discusses the prospects for future research on the
Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effects.
Key Words: Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect; Clusters; Microwave Background
Radiation
Table of Contents
ASTROPHYSICAL CONTEXT
- The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
- Thermal history of the Universe and the CMBR
- COBE and the CMBR
- Clusters of galaxies and the CMBR
- RADIATION BASICS
- INVERSE-COMPTON SCATTERING
- Single photon-electron scattering
- Scattering of photons by an electron population
- Effect on spectrum of radiation
- The Kompaneets approximation
- THE THERMAL SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT
- The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect from clusters of
galaxies
- Superclusters of galaxies
- Local Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effects
- THE NON-THERMAL SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT
- THE KINEMATIC SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT
- POLARIZATION AND THE SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT
- MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES
- Single-dish radiometer measurements
- Bolometric methods
- Interferometric methods
- SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT DATA
- Cluster data
- Non-thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effects
- THE SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECTS
ANALYSED IN TERMS OF CLUSTER PROPERTIES
- Cluster gas properties
- Cluster velocities
- THE SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT INTERPRETED IN
COSMOLOGICAL TERMS
- Cosmological parameters
- Contributions to the CMBR spectrum
- Fluctuations in the CMBR
- Quasars and the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effects
- CONTINUING RESEARCH AND THE FUTURE OF THE
SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT
- REFERENCES
1 Also Smithsonian Institution
Astrophysical Observatory, 60
Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Back.
