We study the power of PLANCK data to constrain deviations of the Cosmic
Microwave Background black body temperature from adiabatic evolution using the
thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich anisotropy induced by clusters of galaxies. We
consider two types of data sets: the cosmological signal is removed in the Time
Ordered Information or is removed from the final maps; and two different
statistical estimators, based on the ratio of temperature anisotropies at two
different frequencies and on a fit to the spectral variation of the cluster
signal with frequency. To test for systematics, we construct a template from
clusters drawn from a hydro-simulation included in the pre-launch Planck Sky
Model. We demonstrate that, using a proprietary catalog of X-ray selected
clusters with measured redshifts, electron densities and X-ray temperatures, we
can constrain deviations of adiabatic evolution, measured by the parameter
α in the redshift scaling T(z)=T0(1+z)1−α, with an accuracy
of σα=0.011 in the most optimal case and with
σα=0.016 for a less optimal case. These results represent a factor
2-3 improvement over similar measurements carried out using quasar spectral
lines and a factor 6-20 with respect to earlier results using smaller cluster
samples.Comment: 12 pages in ApJ styl