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

这个项目的目标是发展一种新的分析技术，通过一种被称为成对运动学Sunyaev-Zel‘dovich(KSZ)效应的现象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，以及与纽约和费城的天文馆进行接触，在询问天文学家之夜向公众介绍并与公众接触。提案团队还将积极参与Ithaca物理巴士，这是一个新的外展倡议，以亚利桑那州的一个成功项目为蓝本，利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纪律的兴奋。运动学kSZ方法在2012年首次用于探测星团运动，方法是将阿塔卡马宇宙学望远镜(ACT)的宇宙微波背景测量结果与斯隆数字天空调查III(SDSS-III)的发光红色星系的光学光谱进行交叉关联。即将到来的测量将使第一次探测的性能提高一个数量级以上，该项目团队正准备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测量有可能对修改后的重力、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.