5 research outputs found
Cross-Correlation of the Cosmic Microwave Background with the 2MASS Galaxy Survey: Signatures of Dark Energy, Hot Gas, and Point Sources
We cross-correlate the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature
anisotropies observed by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) with
the projected distribution of extended sources in the Two Micron All Sky Survey
(2MASS). By modelling the theoretical expectation for this signal, we extract
the signatures of dark energy (Integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect;ISW), hot gas
(thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect;thermal SZ), and microwave point sources in
the cross-correlation. Our strongest signal is the thermal SZ, at the 3.1-3.7
\sigma level, which is consistent with the theoretical prediction based on
observations of X-ray clusters. We also see the ISW signal at the 2.5 \sigma
level, which is consistent with the expected value for the concordance LCDM
cosmology, and is an independent signature of the presence of dark energy in
the universe. Finally, we see the signature of microwave point sources at the
2.7 \sigma level.Comment: 35 pages (preprint format), 8 figures. In addition to minor revisions
based on referee's comments, after correcting for a bug in the code, the SZ
detection is consistent with the X-ray observations. Accepeted for
publication in Physical Review
The Large Scale Structure in the Universe: From Power-Laws to Acoustic Peaks
The most popular tools for analysing the large scale distribution of galaxies
are second-order spatial statistics such as the two-point correlation function
or its Fourier transform, the power spectrum. In this review, we explain how
our knowledge of cosmic structures, encapsulated by these statistical
descriptors, has evolved since their first use when applied on the early galaxy
catalogues to the present generation of wide and deep redshift surveys,
incorporating the most challenging discovery in the study of the galaxy
distribution: the detection of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, to appear in "Data Analysis in Cosmology",
Lecture Notes in Physics, 2008, eds. V. J. Martinez, E. Saar, E.
Martinez-Gonzalez, and M.J. Pons-Borderia, Springer-Verla
Cosmology with clusters of galaxies
In this Chapter I review the role that galaxy clusters play as tools to
constrain cosmological parameters. I will concentrate mostly on the application
of the mass function of galaxy clusters, while other methods, such as that
based on the baryon fraction, are covered by other Chapters of the book. Since
most of the cosmological applications of galaxy clusters rely on precise
measurements of their masses, a substantial part of my Lectures concentrates on
the different methods that have been applied so far to weight galaxy clusters.
I provide in Section 2 a short introduction to the basics of cosmic structure
formation. In Section 3 I describe the Press--Schechter (PS) formalism to
derive the cosmological mass function, then discussing extensions of the PS
approach and the most recent calibrations from N--body simulations. In Section
4 I review the methods to build samples of galaxy clusters at different
wavelengths. Section 5 is devoted to the discussion of different methods to
derive cluster masses. In Section 6 I describe the cosmological constraints,
which have been obtained so far by tracing the cluster mass function with a
variety of methods. Finally, I describe in Section 7 the future perspectives
for cosmology with galaxy clusters and the challenges for clusters to keep
playing an important role in the era of precision cosmology.Comment: 49 pages, 19 figures, Lectures for 2005 Guillermo Haro Summer School
on Clusters, to appear in "Lecture notes in Physics" (Springer