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COSMOLOGY WITH THE SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT
John E. Carlstrom 1,
Gilbert P. Holder 2, and
Erik D. Reese 3
1 Center
for Cosmological Physics,
Department of
Astronomy and Astrophysics,
Department
of Physics,
Enrico Fermi
Institute,
University of Chicago, 5640 S. Ellis Avenue,
Chicago, IL, 60637,
email: jc@hyde.uchicago.edu
2 Institute
for Advanced Study,
Princeton,
NJ, 08540, email:
holder@ias.edu
3 Chandra Fellow,
Department of
Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, email:
reese@cfpa.berkeley.edu
Abstract. The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) provides a unique
way to map the
large-scale structure of the universe as traced by massive clusters of
galaxies. As a spectral distortion of the cosmic microwave background,
the SZE is insensitive to the redshift of the galaxy cluster, making
it well-suited for studies of clusters at all redshifts, and
especially at reasonably high redshifts (z > 1) where the
abundance of clusters is critically dependent on the underlying cosmology.
Recent high signal-to-noise detections of the SZE have enabled
interesting constraints on the Hubble constant and the matter density
of the universe using small samples of galaxy clusters. Upcoming SZE
surveys are expected to find hundreds to thousands of new galaxy
clusters, with a mass selection function that is remarkably uniform
with redshift. In this review we provide an overview of the SZE and
its use for cosmological studies with emphasis on the cosmology
that can, in principle, be extracted from SZE survey yields. We
discuss the observational and theoretical challenges that must be met
before precise cosmological constraints can be extracted from the
survey yields.
Keywords galaxy clusters, cosmic microwave background, structure
formation, surveys
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
- THE SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT
- Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect
- Kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect
- Polarization of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich
Effect
- STATUS OF OBSERVATIONS
- Sources of Astronomical Contamination and
Confusion
- Single Dish Observations
- Interferometric Observations
- SKY SURVEYS WITH THE SZE
- Cluster Abundance
- Mass Limits of Observability
- Estimates of SZE Source Counts
- COSMOLOGY FROM SZE SURVEY SAMPLES
- Distance Determinations, Hubble Constant
- Cluster gas mass fractions,
M
- Cluster Peculiar Velocities
- Energy Densities in the Universe and Growth
of Structure
- Challenges for Interpreting SZE Surveys
- SUMMARY
- REFERENCES
