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学Sunyaev-Zel'dovich（kSZ）效应的现象的技术来提取星系团的大尺度运动。 这种效应是由于宇宙微波光子在星系团中的散射。这项工作的更广泛影响包括对本科生的研究培训，以及与纽约和费城的天文馆进行外联，在“问天文学家之夜”上向公众发表演讲并与公众接触。提案团队还将积极参与伊萨卡物理巴士，这是一个新的推广计划，以亚利桑那州的一个成功项目为蓝本，它使用改装的校车将物理演示和科学实验带到学校和公共活动中，以促进对STEM学科的兴奋。运动学kSZ方法在2012年首次通过交叉探测团运动中使用，将阿塔卡玛宇宙望远镜（ACT）的宇宙微波背景测量与斯隆数字巡天III（SDSS-III）的发光红色星系的光谱学相关联。即将进行的测量将使第一次探测的改进超过一个数量级，项目团队将从这些测量中提取宇宙学信息。 该项目团队最近表明，即将到来的kSZ测量有可能对修正引力、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.