Imaging Simulations of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect for ALMA

Abstract

We present imaging simulations of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect of galaxy clusters for the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) including the Atacama Compact Array (ACA). In its most compact configuration at 90GHz, ALMA will resolve the intracluster medium with an effective angular resolution of 5 arcsec. It will provide a unique probe of shock fronts and relativistic electrons produced during cluster mergers at high redshifts, that are hard to spatially resolve by current and near-future X-ray detectors. Quality of image reconstruction is poor with the 12m array alone but improved significantly by adding ACA; expected sensitivity of the 12m array based on the thermal noise is not valid for the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect mapping unless accompanied by an ACA observation of at least equal duration. The observations above 100 GHz will become excessively time-consuming owing to the narrower beam size and the higher system temperature. On the other hand, significant improvement of the observing efficiency is expected once Band 1 is implemented in the future.

16 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in PASJ. Note added in proof is included

References in corpus (7)

• Shocks and cold fronts in galaxy clusters
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Extragalactic Sources at 148 GHz in the 2008 Survey
• How Rare is the Bullet Cluster?
• Kinematics and Physical Conditions of the Innermost Envelope in B335
• Suzaku broad-band spectroscopy of RX J1347.5-1145: constraints on the extremely hot gas and non-thermal emission
• Non-Equilibrium Ionization State and Two-Temperature Structure in the Bullet Cluster 1E0657-56
• Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect Observations of the Bullet Cluster (1E 0657-56) with APEX-SZ

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Thermal SZ fluctuations in the ICM: probing turbulence and thermodynamics in Coma cluster with $Planck$
• Cosmological and Astrophysical Implications of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect
• Suzaku X-Ray Observations of the Accreting NGC 4839 Group of Galaxies and the Radio Relic in the Coma Cluster
• The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect at Five Arc-seconds: RXJ1347.5-1145 Imaged by ALMA
• Observations of a Pre-Merger Shock in Colliding Clusters of Galaxies
• Simulating the galaxy cluster "El Gordo": gas motion, kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich signal, and X-ray line features
• Simulating SZ intensity maps of giant AGN cocoons