Kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect and the missing baryons problem

Emmanuel Schaan (Princeton)

August 14, 2015

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Abstract: Through the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (kSZ) effect, the baryon momentum field is imprinted on the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Current small-scale high- sensitivity CMB experiments make this effect measurable, providing a unique handle on peculiar velocities and baryon physics. I will report a significant detection of the kSZ effect, obtained by combining CMB intensity data from ACTPol with peculiar velocities reconstructed from the galaxy number density field in BOSS. I will present the prospects for localizing the missing baryons and measuring cluster gas profiles from the kSZ effect, and discuss the various sources of systematic error associated.