Lensing reconstruction of cluster-mass cross-correlation with cosmic microwave background polarization

We extend our maximum likelihood method for reconstructing the cluster-mass cross-correlation from cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies and develop new estimators that utilize six different quadratic combinations of CMB temperature and polarization fields. Our maximum likelihood estimators are constructed with delensed CMB temperature and polarization fields by using an assumed model of the convergence field and they can be iteratively applied to a set of clusters, approaching to the optimal condition for the lensing reconstruction as the assumed initial model is refined. Using smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations, we create a catalog of realistic clusters obtainable from the current Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) surveys, and we demonstrate the ability of the maximum likelihood estimators to reconstruct the cluster-mass cross-correlation from the massive clusters. The iTT temperature estimator provides a signal-to-noise ratio of a factor 3 larger than the iEB polarization estimator, unless the detector noise for measuring polarization anisotropies is controlled under 3 microK.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Large scale motions in superclusters: their imprint in the CMB

We identify high density regions of supercluster size in high resolution N-body simulations of a representative volume of three Cold Dark Matter Universes. By assuming that (1) the density and peculiar velocities of baryons trace those of the dark matter, and (2) the temperature of plasma is proportional to the velocity dispersion of the dark matter particles in regions where the crossing times is smaller than the supercluster free-fall time, we investigate how thermal motions of electrons in the intra-cluster medium and peculiar velocity of clusters can affect the secondary anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We show that the thermal effect dominates the kinematic effect and that the largest thermal decrements are associated with the most massive clusters in superclusters. Thus, searching for the presence of two or more close large CMB decrements represents a viable strategy for identifying superclusters at cosmological distances. Moreover, maps of the kinematic effect in superclusters are characterized by neighboring large peaks of opposite signs. These peaks can be as high as ~ 10 microK at the arcminute angular resolution. Simultaneous pointed observations of superclusters in the millimeter and submillimeter bands with upcoming sensitive CMB experiments can separate between the thermal and kinematic effect contributions and constrain the evolution of the velocity field in large overdense regions.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, ApJ Letters, in press; revised version according to referee's comment

Scaling Laws in High-Energy Inverse Compton Scattering. II. Effect of Bulk Motions

We study the inverse Compton scattering of the CMB photons off high-energy nonthermal electrons. We extend the formalism obtained by the previous paper to the case where the electrons have non-zero bulk motions with respect to the CMB frame. Assuming the power-law electron distribution, we find the same scaling law for the probability distribution function P_{1,K}(s) as P_{1}(s) which corresponds to the zero bulk motions, where the peak height and peak position depend only on the power-index parameter. We solved the rate equation analytically. It is found that the spectral intensity function also has the same scaling law. The effect of the bulk motions to the spectral intensity function is found to be small. The present study will be applicable to the analysis of the X-ray and gamma-ray emission models from various astrophysical objects with non-zero bulk motions such as radio galaxies and astrophysical jets.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, accepted version by Physical Review

Two-photon transitions in hydrogen and cosmological recombination

We study the two-photon process for the transitions ns --> 1s and nd --> 1s in hydrogen up to large n. For n<=20 we provide simple analytic fitting formulae to describe the non-resonant part of the two-photon emission profiles. Combining these with the analytic form of the cascade-term yields a simple and accurate description of the full two-photon decay spectrum, which only involves a sum over a few intermediate states. We demonstrate that the cascade term naturally leads to a nearly Lorentzian shape of the two-photon profiles in the vicinity of the resonances. However, due to quantum-electrodynamical corrections, the two-photon emission spectra deviate significantly from the Lorentzian shape in the very distant wings of the resonances. We investigate up to which distance the two-photon profiles are close to a Lorentzian and discuss the role of the interference term. We then analyze how the deviation of the two-photon profiles from the Lorentzian shape affects the dynamics of cosmological hydrogen recombination. Since in this context the escape of photons from the Lyman-alpha resonance plays a crucial role, we concentrate on the two-photon corrections in the vicinity of the Lyman-alpha line. Our computations show that the changes in the ionization history due to the additional two-photon process from high shell (n>2) likely do not reach the percent-level. For conservative assumptions we find a correction DN_e/N_e~-0.4% at redshift z~1160. This is numerically similar to the result of another recent study; however, the physics leading to this conclusion is rather different. In particular, our calculations of the effective two-photon decay rates yield significantly different values, where the destructive interference of the resonant and non-resonant terms plays a crucial role in this context (abridged)Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures, 4 tables, accepted versio

The evolution of CMB spectral distortions in the early Universe

The energy spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) allows constraining episodes of energy release in the early Universe. In this paper we revisit and refine the computations of the cosmological thermalization problem. For this purpose a new code, called CosmoTherm, was developed that allows solving the coupled photon-electron Boltzmann equation in the expanding, isotropic Universe for small spectral distortion in the CMB. We explicitly compute the shape of the spectral distortions caused by energy release due to (i) annihilating dark matter; (ii) decaying relict particles; (iii) dissipation of acoustic waves; and (iv) quasi-instantaneous heating. We also demonstrate that (v) the continuous interaction of CMB photons with adiabatically cooling non-relativistic electrons and baryons causes a negative mu-type CMB spectral distortion of DI_nu/I_nu ~ 10^{-8} in the GHz spectral band. We solve the thermalization problem including improved approximations for the double Compton and Bremsstrahlung emissivities, as well as the latest treatment of the cosmological recombination process. At redshifts z <~ 10^3 the matter starts to cool significantly below the temperature of the CMB so that at very low frequencies free-free absorption alters the shape of primordial distortions significantly. In addition, the cooling electrons down-scatter CMB photons introducing a small late negative y-type distortion at high frequencies. We also discuss our results in the light of the recently proposed CMB experiment Pixie, for which CosmoTherm should allow detailed forecasting. Our current computations show that for energy injection because of (ii) and (iv) Pixie should allow to improve existing limits, while the CMB distortions caused by the other processes seem to remain unobservable with the currently proposed sensitivities and spectral bands of Pixie.Comment: 22 pages, 19 figures, 1 table, accepted by MNRA

(No) dimming of X-ray clusters beyond z~1 at fixed mass: crude redhshifts and masses from raw X-ray and SZ data

Scaling relations in the LCDM Cosmology predict that for a given mass the clusters formed at larger redshift are hotter, denser and therefore more luminous in X-rays than their local z~0 counterparts. This effect overturns the decrease in the observable X-ray flux so that it does not decrease at z > 1, similar to the SZ signal. Provided that scaling relations remain valid at larger redshifts, X-ray surveys will not miss massive clusters at any redshift, no matter how far they are. At the same time, the difference in scaling with mass and distance of the observable SZ and X-ray signals from galaxy clusters at redshifts $z\lesssim 2$ offers a possibility to crudely estimate the redshift and the mass of a cluster. This might be especially useful for preselection of massive high-redshift clusters and planning of optical follow-up for overlapping surveys in X-ray (e.g., by SRG/eRosita) and SZ (e.g. Planck, SPT and ACT).Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, MNRAS accepte