Cosmology with the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect: Testing fundamental physics and hydrodynamical simulations

该项目的目标是开发一种新的分析技术，通过使用称为成对运动 Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) 效应的现象的技术来提取星系团的大规模运动。 这种效应是由于星系团中宇宙微波光子的散射造成的。这项工作的更广泛影响包括对本科生的研究培训，以及与纽约和费城天文馆的外展活动，在天文学家之夜向公众进行演示并与公众互动。该提案团队还将积极参与伊萨卡物理巴士，这是一项以亚利桑那州成功项目为蓝本的新推广计划，利用改装的校车为学校和公共活动带来物理演示和科学实验，以激发人们对 STEM 学科的兴趣。2012 年，通过将阿塔卡马宇宙学望远镜 (ACT) 的宇宙微波背景测量与发光红光谱交叉关联，使用运动学 kSZ 方法首次检测星团运动。来自斯隆数字巡天 III (SDSS-III) 的星系。即将进行的测量将使首次探测得到一个数量级以上的改进，并且项目团队已做好从这些测量中提取宇宙学信息的独特准备。 该项目团队最近表明，即将到来的 kSZ 测量有可能对修正重力、暗能量和中微子提供强有力的约束。

The objective of this project is to develop a new analysis technique to extract the large scale motions of galaxy clusters via a technique using a phenomenon called the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (kSZ) effect. This effect is due to the scattering of cosmic microwave photons in galaxy clusters. Broader impacts of the work include research training of undergraduate students, and outreach with planetariums in New York and Philadelphia to give presentations to and engage with the public on ask an astronomer nights. The proposal team will also be actively involved in the Ithaca Physics Bus, a new outreach initiative modeled on a successful program based in Arizona, which brings physics demonstrations and science experiments to schools and public events using a converted school bus to promote excitement about STEM disciplines.The kinematic kSZ approach was used in the first detection of cluster motions in 2012 by cross-correlating Cosmic Microwave Background measurements from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) with optical spectroscopy of luminous red galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III (SDSS-III). Upcoming measurements will enable more than an order of magnitude improvement on this first detection, and the project team is uniquely poised to extract cosmological information from these measurements. The project team has recently shown that upcoming kSZ measurements have the potential to provide strong constraints on modified gravity, dark energy, and neutrinos.