Mirror Illumination and Spillover Measurements of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) is a 6 m telescope designed to map the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) simultaneously at 145 GHz, 220GHz and 280GHz, The receiver in ACT, the Millimeter Bolometer Array Camera, features 1000 TES bolometers in each band, The detector performance depends critically on the total optical loading, requiring the spmover contributions from the optics to be minimal. This inspired the use of a cold Lyot stop to limit the illumination of the primary and the use of guard rings surrounding the primary and secondary reflectors. Here, we present a direct measurement of the illumination aperture for both reflectors and of the attenuation level outside the main optical path. We used a 145 GHz, 1 m W source and a chopper wheel to produce a time-varying signal with a broad heam proflle, We sampled the response of the camera for different locations of the source, placed in front and beside the primary and secondary mirrors. The aperture of the primary was measured to be 5,72 plus or minus 0,17m in diameter (95 plus or minus 3% of its geometrical size), while the aperture of the secondary yielded 2 plus or minus 0.12m in diameter. Both apertures are consistent with the optical design. Comparing to previous measurements of the beam solid angle from planet observations, we estimate an optical efficiency of 72.3 plus or minus 4,8%. We found that the attenuation outside the primary aperture was -16 plus or minus 2dB, which is below the theoretical expectations, and -22 plus or minus 1 dB outside the secondary aperture, which is consistent with simulations. These results motivated the extension of the baffles surrounding the secondary mirror, with the following reduction in detector optical loading from 2,24 pW to 188pW

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Dusty Star-Forming Galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei in the Southern Survey

We present a catalog of 191 extragalactic sources detected by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) at 148 GHz and/or 218 GHz in the 2008 Southern survey. Flux densities span 14-1700 mJy, and we use source spectral indices derived using ACT-only data to divide our sources into two sub-populations: 167 radio galaxies powered by central active galactic nuclei (AGN), and 24 dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs). We cross-identify 97% of our sources (166 of the AGN and 19 of the DSFGs) with those in currently available catalogs. When combined with flux densities from the Australian Telescope 20 GHz survey and follow-up observations with the Australia Telescope Compact Array, the synchrotron-dominated population is seen to exhibit a steepening of the slope of the spectral energy distribution from 20 to 148 GHz, with the trend continuing to 218 GHz. The ACT dust-dominated source population has a median spectral index of 3.7+0.62-0.86, and includes both local galaxies and sources with redshifts as great as 5.6. Dusty sources with no counterpart in existing catalogs likely belong to a recently discovered subpopulation of DSFGs lensed by foreground galaxies or galaxy groups.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, 4 table

The optical design of the six-meter CCAT-prime and Simons Observatory telescopes

A common optical design for a coma-corrected, 6-meter aperture, crossed-Dragone telescope has been adopted for the CCAT-prime telescope of CCAT Observatory, Inc., and for the Large Aperture Telescope of the Simons Observatory. Both are to be built in the high altitude Atacama Desert in Chile for submillimeter and millimeter wavelength observations, respectively. The design delivers a high throughput, relatively flat focal plane, with a field of view 7.8 degrees in diameter for 3 mm wavelengths, and the ability to illuminate >100k diffraction-limited beams for < 1 mm wavelengths. The optics consist of offset reflecting primary and secondary surfaces arranged in such a way as to satisfy the Mizuguchi-Dragone criterion, suppressing first-order astigmatism and maintaining high polarization purity. The surface shapes are perturbed from their standard conic forms in order to correct coma aberrations. We discuss the optical design, performance, and tolerancing sensitivity. More information about CCAT-prime can be found at ccatobservatory.org and about Simons Observatory at simonsobservatory.org.Comment: Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2018, Austin, Texas, USA; Proceedings Volume 10700, Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes VII; 1070041 (2018

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Selected Galaxy Clusters at 148 GHz from Three Seasons of Data

[Abridged] We present a catalog of 68 galaxy clusters, of which 19 are new discoveries, detected via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZ) at 148 GHz in the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) survey of 504 square degrees on the celestial equator. A subsample of 48 clusters within the 270 square degree region overlapping SDSS Stripe 82 is estimated to be 90% complete for M_500c > 4.5e14 Msun and 0.15 < z < 0.8. While matched filters are used to detect the clusters, the sample is studied further through a "Profile Based Amplitude Analysis" using a single filter at a fixed \theta_500 = 5.9' angular scale. This new approach takes advantage of the "Universal Pressure Profile" (UPP) to fix the relationship between the cluster characteristic size (R_500) and the integrated Compton parameter (Y_500). The UPP scalings are found to be nearly identical to an adiabatic model, while a model incorporating non-thermal pressure better matches dynamical mass measurements and masses from the South Pole Telescope. A high signal to noise ratio subsample of 15 ACT clusters is used to obtain cosmological constraints. We first confirm that constraints from SZ data are limited by uncertainty in the scaling relation parameters rather than sample size or measurement uncertainty. We next add in seven clusters from the ACT Southern survey, including their dynamical mass measurements based on galaxy velocity dispersions. In combination with WMAP7 these data simultaneously constrain the scaling relation and cosmological parameters, yielding \sigma_8 = 0.829 \pm 0.024 and \Omega_m = 0.292 \pm 0.025. The results include marginalization over a 15% bias in dynamical mass relative to the true halo mass. In an extension to LCDM that incorporates non-zero neutrino mass density, we combine our data with WMAP7+BAO+Hubble constant measurements to constrain \Sigma m_\nu < 0.29 eV (95% C. L.).Comment: 32 pages, 21 figures To appear in J. Cosmology and Astroparticle Physic

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Two-Season ACTPol Lensing Power Spectrum

We report a measurement of the power spectrum of cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing from two seasons of Atacama Cosmology Telescope Polarimeter (ACTPol) CMB data. The CMB lensing power spectrum is extracted from both temperature and polarization data using quadratic estimators. We obtain results that are consistent with the expectation from the best-fit Planck LCDM model over a range of multipoles L=80-2100, with an amplitude of lensing A_lens = 1.06 +/- 0.15 (stat.) +/- 0.06 (sys.) relative to Planck. Our measurement of the CMB lensing power spectrum gives sigma_8 Omega_m^0.25 = 0.643 +/- 0.054; including baryon acoustic oscillation scale data, we constrain the amplitude of density fluctuations to be sigma_8 = 0.831 +/- 0.053. We also update constraints on the neutrino mass sum. We verify our lensing measurement with a number of null tests and systematic checks, finding no evidence of significant systematic errors. This measurement relies on a small fraction of the ACTPol data already taken; more precise lensing results can therefore be expected from the full ACTPol dataset.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, to be submitted to Physical Review

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Extragalactic Point Sources in the Southern Surveys at 150, 220 and 280 GHz observed between 2008-2010

We present a multi-frequency, multi-epoch catalog of extragalactic sources. The catalog is based on 150, 220 and 280 GHz observations carried out in 2008, 2009 and 2010 using the Millimeter Bolometric Array Camera on the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. We also present and release 280 GHz maps from 2008 and 2010. The catalog contains 695 sources, found in a sky area of ${\sim}600$ square degrees. It is obtained by cross-matching sources found in 11 sub-catalogs, one for each season and frequency band. Also include are co-added data from ${\sim}150$ and ${\sim}160$ square degrees using 2 and 3 years of overlapping observations. We divide the sources into two populations, synchrotron and dusty emitters, based on their spectral behavior in the 150-220 GHz frequency range. We find 374 synchrotron sources and 321 dusty source candidates. Cross-matching with catalogs from radio to X-ray results in 264 synchrotron sources (71%) and 89 dusty sources (28%) with counterparts, suggesting that 232 dusty candidates are not in existing catalogs. We study the variability and number counts of each population. In the case of synchrotron sources, we find year-to-year variability up to 60%, with a mean value around 35%. As expected, we find no evidence of dusty source variability. Our number counts generally agree with previous measurements and models, except for dusty sources at 280 GHz where some models overestimate our results. We also characterize the spectral energy distribution of a dusty star-forming galaxy, ACT-S J065207-551605, using our data and higher frequency observations.Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures, for associated data products see https://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/act/act_prod_table.htm

Detection of Galaxy Cluster Motions with the Kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect

Using high-resolution microwave sky maps made by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, we for the first time detect motions of galaxy clusters and groups via microwave background .temperature distortions due to the kinematic Sunyaev.Zel'dovich effect. Galaxy clusters are identified by their constituent luminous galaxies observed by the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III. The mean pairwise momentum of clusters is measured. at a statistical. significance of 3.8 sigma, and the signal is consistent with the growth of cosmic structure in the standard model of cosmolog

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Detection or Sunyaev-Zel'Dovich Decrement in Groups and Clusters Associated with Luminous Red Galaxies

We present a detection of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) decrement associated with the Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The SZ data come from 148 GHz maps of the equatorial region made by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). The LRG sample is divided by luminosity into four bins, and estimates for the central Sunyaev-Zel'dovich temperature decrement are calculated through a stacking process. We detect and account for a bias of the SZ signal due to weak radio sources. We use numerical simulations to relate the observed decrement to Y(sub 200) and clustering properties to relate the galaxy luminosity bins to mass. We also use a relation between BCG luminosity and cluster mass based on stacked gravitational lensing measurements to estimate the characteristic halo masses. The masses are found to be in the range approx.10(exp 13) - 10(exp 14)/h Stellar Mass, a lower range than has been previously probed

A Measurement of the Millimeter Emission and the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect Associated with Low-Frequency Radio Sources

We present a statistical analysis of the millimeter-wavelength properties of 1.4 GHz-selected sources and a detection of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect associated with the halos that host them. We stack data at 148, 218 and 277 GHz from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope at the positions of a large sample of radio AGN selected at 1.4 GHz. The thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect associated with the halos that host the AGN is detected at the 5 sigma level through its spectral signature, representing a statistical detection of the SZ effect in some of the lowest mass halos (average M(sub 200) approximately equals 10(sup 13) solar mass h(sub 70)(exp 1) ) studied to date. The relation between the SZ effect and mass (based on weak lensing measurements of radio galaxies) is consistent with that measured by Planck for local bright galaxies. In the context of galaxy evolution models, this study confirms that galaxies with radio AGN also typically support hot gaseous halos. Adding Herschel observations allows us to show that the SZ signal is not significantly contaminated by dust emission. Finally, we analyze the contribution of radio sources to the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background

CLASS: The Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor

The Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) is an experiment to measure the signature of a gravitational wave background from inflation in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). CLASS is a multi-frequency array of four telescopes operating from a high-altitude site in the Atacama Desert in Chile. CLASS will survey 70% of the sky in four frequency bands centered at 38, 93, 148, and 217 GHz, which are chosen to straddle the Galactic-foreground minimum while avoiding strong atmospheric emission lines. This broad frequency coverage ensures that CLASS can distinguish Galactic emission from the CMB. The sky fraction of the CLASS survey will allow the full shape of the primordial B-mode power spectrum to be characterized, including the signal from reionization at low-length. Its unique combination of large sky coverage, control of systematic errors, and high sensitivity will allow CLASS to measure or place upper limits on the tensor-to-scalar ratio at a level of r = 0:01 and make a cosmic-variance-limited measurement of the optical depth to the surface of last scattering, tau. (c) (2014) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only