The importance of merging activity for the kinetic polarization of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich signal from galaxy clusters

2007/06/06 by M. Maturi, L. Moscardini, P. Mazzotta +2 · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Amplitude #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Classical mechanics #Cluster (spacecraft) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy cluster #Kinetic energy #Optics #Physics #Polarization (electrochemistry) #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078015

published in Astronomy and Astrophysics 475(1), 71-81 (EDP Sciences) · 13 pages, 7 figures, submitted to A&A

arxiv created 2007/06/06 · openalex publication_date 2007/09/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Context.The polarization sensitivity of upcoming millimetric observatories will open new possibilities for studying the properties of galaxy clusters and for using them as powerful cosmological probes. For this reason it is necessary to investigate in detail the characteristics of the polarization signals produced by their highly ionized intra-cluster medium (ICM). This work is focused on the polarization effect induced by the ICM bulk motion, the so-called kpSZ signal, which has an amplitude proportional to the optical depth and to the square of the tangential velocity.

Citations

• Non-Gaussian cosmic microwave background temperature fluctuations from peculiar velocities of clusters
• High resolution foreground cleaned CMB map from WMAP
• Thermal conduction in cosmological SPH simulations
• Simulated X-ray galaxy clusters at the virial radius: Slopes of the gas density, temperature and surface brightness profiles
• Microwave polarization in the direction of galaxy clusters induced by the CMB quadrupole anisotropy
• Cosmological smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations: the entropy equation