Cross-correlating the Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect and the Distribution of Galaxy Clusters

Abstract

We present the analytical formulas, derived based on the halo model, to compute the cross-correlation between the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect and the distribution of galaxy clusters. By binning the clusters according to their redshifts and masses, this cross-correlation, the so-called stacked SZ signal, reveals the average SZ profile around the clusters. The stacked SZ signal is obtainable from a joint analysis of an arcminute-resolution cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiment and an overlapping optical survey, which allows for detection of the SZ signals for clusters whose masses are below the individual cluster detection threshold. We derive the error covariance matrix for measuring the stacked SZ signal, and then forecast for its detection from ongoing and forthcoming combined CMB-optical surveys. We find that, over a wide range of mass and redshift, the stacked SZ signal can be detected with a significant signal to noise ratio (total S/N \gsim 10), whose value peaks for the clusters with intermediate masses and redshifts. Our calculation also shows that the stacking method allows for probing the clusters' SZ profiles over a wide range of scales, even out to projected radii as large as the virial radius, thereby providing a promising way to study gas physics at the outskirts of galaxy clusters.

11 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, minor revisions reflect PRD published version

References in corpus (5)

• Probing dark energy with cluster counts and cosmic shear power spectra: including the full covariance
• Missing Thermal Energy of the Intracluster Medium
• Red Sequence Cluster Finding in the Millennium Simulation
• The probability distribution function of the SZ power spectrum: an analytical approach
• An Evolving Entropy Floor in the Intracluster Gas?

Cited by in corpus (13)

• A Measurement of the Galaxy Group-Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect Cross-Correlation Function
• Modelling the correlation between the thermal Sunyaev Zel'dovich effect and the cosmic infrared background
• The Two-Halo Term in Stacked Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Measurements: Implications for Self-Similarity
• Cross-correlating the gamma-ray sky with catalogs of galaxy clusters
• The Effective Halo Model: Creating a Physical and Accurate Model of the Matter Power Spectrum and Cluster Counts
• Measuring the Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect Through the Cross Correlation of Planck and WMAP Maps with ROSAT Galaxy Cluster Catalogs
• Probing hot gas around luminous red galaxies through the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect
• Subaru weak-lensing measurement of a z = 0.81 cluster discovered by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Survey
• CMB distortion anisotropies due to the decay of primordial magnetic fields
• Super-sample covariance of the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect
• Probing the circumgalactic baryons through cross-correlations
• Exploring the mass and redshift dependence of the cluster pressure profile with stacks on thermal SZ maps
• Probing galaxy cluster and intra-cluster gas with luminous red galaxies