The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Measurement of the DR6 CMB Lensing Power Spectrum and its Implications for Structure Growth

Abstract

We present new measurements of cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing over $9400$ sq. deg. of the sky. These lensing measurements are derived from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) Data Release 6 (DR6) CMB dataset, which consists of five seasons of ACT CMB temperature and polarization observations. We determine the amplitude of the CMB lensing power spectrum at $2.3\%$ precision ($43\sigma$ significance) using a novel pipeline that minimizes sensitivity to foregrounds and to noise properties. To ensure our results are robust, we analyze an extensive set of null tests, consistency tests, and systematic error estimates and employ a blinded analysis framework. The baseline spectrum is well fit by a lensing amplitude of $A_{\mathrm{lens}}=1.013\pm 0.023$ relative to the Planck 2018 CMB power spectra best-fit $\Lambda$CDM model and $A_{\mathrm{lens}}=1.005\pm 0.023$ relative to the $\text{ACT DR4}+\text{WMAP}$ best-fit model. From our lensing power spectrum measurement, we derive constraints on the parameter combination $S_8^{\mathrm{CMBL}}\equiv {\sigma }_8{\left({\Omega }_m/0.3\right)}^{0.25}$ of $S_8^{\mathrm{CMBL}}=0.818\pm 0.022$ from ACT DR6 CMB lensing alone and $S_8^{\mathrm{CMBL}}=0.813\pm 0.018$ when combining ACT DR6 and Planck NPIPE CMB lensing power spectra. These results are in excellent agreement with $\Lambda$CDM model constraints from Planck or $\text{ACT DR4}+\text{WMAP}$ CMB power spectrum measurements. Our lensing measurements from redshifts $z\sim 0.5$--$5$ are thus fully consistent with $\Lambda$CDM structure growth predictions based on CMB anisotropies probing primarily $z\sim 1100$. We find no evidence for a suppression of the amplitude of cosmic structure at low redshifts

45+22 pages, 50 figures. v3 updates author institution acknowledgement. Cosmological likelihood data and lensing maps are here: https://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/act/actadv_prod_table.html ; likelihood software is here: https://github.com/ACTCollaboration/act_dr6_lenslike . Also see companion papers Madhavacheril et al and MacCrann et al

References in corpus (39)

• The Astropy Project: Sustaining and Growing a Community-oriented Open-source Project and the Latest Major Release (v5.0) of the Core Package
• Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Clustering and Weak Lensing
• Massive neutrinos and cosmology
• Why your model parameter confidences might be too optimistic -- unbiased estimation of the inverse covariance matrix
• KiDS-1000 Cosmology: Cosmic shear constraints and comparison between two point statistics
• KiDS-1000 Cosmology: Multi-probe weak gravitational lensing and spectroscopic galaxy clustering constraints
• Cobaya: Code for Bayesian Analysis of hierarchical physical models
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR4 Maps and Cosmological Parameters
• Detection of Gravitational Lensing in the Cosmic Microwave Background
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 Gravitational Lensing Map and Cosmological Parameters
• Planck intermediate results. LVII. Joint Planck LFI and HFI data processing
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Catalog of > 4000 Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Galaxy Clusters
• A full sky, low foreground, high resolution CMB map from WMAP
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Power Spectra at 98 and 150 GHz
• Hyper Suprime-Cam Year 3 Results: Cosmology from Cosmic Shear Power Spectra
• Optical Design of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and the Millimeter Bolometric Array Camera
• COSMOPOWER: emulating cosmological power spectra for accelerated Bayesian inference from next-generation surveys
• A non-linear solution to the $S_8$ tension?
• Evidence for dark energy from the cosmic microwave background alone using the Atacama Cosmology Telescope lensing measurements
• CMB temperature lensing power reconstruction
• Cosmological constraints from unWISE and Planck CMB lensing tomography
• The Websky Extragalactic CMB Simulations
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR5 maps of 18,000 square degrees of the microwave sky from ACT 2008-2018 data
• Constraints on Cosmological Parameters from the 500 deg${}^2$ SPTpol Lensing Power Spectrum
• Lower bias, lower noise CMB lensing with foreground-hardened estimators
• Quadratic estimators for CMB weak lensing
• KiDS & Euclid: Cosmological implications of a pseudo angular power spectrum analysis of KiDS-1000 cosmic shear tomography
• Foreground-immune CMB lensing reconstruction with polarization
• Baryonic feedback biases on fundamental physics from lensed CMB power spectra
• $S_8$ Tension in the Context of Dark Matter-Baryon Scattering
• Partially Constrained Internal Linear Combination: a method for low-noise CMB foreground mitigation
• Hyper Suprime-Cam Year 3 Results: Cosmology from Cosmic Shear Two-point Correlation Functions
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Map-Based Noise Simulations for DR6
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Measurement and Analysis of 1D Beams for DR4
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Modeling Bulk Atmospheric Motion
• Instrumental systematics biases in CMB lensing reconstruction: a simulation-based assessment
• Large-scale power loss in ground-based CMB mapmaking
• CMB lensing with shear-only reconstruction on the full sky
• Enhancing Measurements of the CMB Blackbody Temperature Power Spectrum by Removing CIB and Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Contamination Using External Galaxy Catalogs

Cited by in corpus (124)

• DESI 2024 VI: Cosmological Constraints from the Measurements of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
• Euclid. I. Overview of the Euclid mission
• DESI DR2 Results II: Measurements of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and Cosmological Constraints
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 Gravitational Lensing Map and Cosmological Parameters
• The CosmoVerse White Paper: Addressing observational tensions in cosmology with systematics and fundamental physics
• DESI 2024 VII: Cosmological Constraints from the Full-Shape Modeling of Clustering Measurements
• Robust Preference for Dynamical Dark Energy in DESI BAO and SN Measurements
• Scant evidence for thawing quintessence
• Quintessential interpretation of the evolving dark energy in light of DESI
• The SRG/eROSITA all-sky survey: Cosmology constraints from cluster abundances in the western Galactic hemisphere
• Using non-DESI data to confirm and strengthen the DESI 2024 spatially-flat $w_0{w}_a$CDM cosmological parameterization result
• Matching current observational constraints with nonminimally coupled dark energy
• An overview of what current data can (and cannot yet) say about evolving dark energy
• Robustness of dark energy phenomenology across different parameterizations
• Cosmology From CMB Lensing and Delensed EE Power Spectra Using 2019-2020 SPT-3G Polarization Data
• Assessing cosmological evidence for non-minimal coupling
• Massive neutrinos and cosmic composition
• Dynamical Dark Energy Beyond Planck? Constraints from multiple CMB probes, DESI BAO and Type-Ia Supernovae
• SPT-3G D1: CMB temperature and polarization power spectra and cosmology from 2019 and 2020 observations of the SPT-3G Main field
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Cosmology from cross-correlations of unWISE galaxies and ACT DR6 CMB lensing
• Probing the sign-changeable interaction between dark energy and dark matter with DESI baryon acoustic oscillations and DES supernovae data
• Modified Gravity Constraints from the Full Shape Modeling of Clustering Measurements from DESI 2024
• Pressure Parametrization of Dark Energy: First and Second-Order Constraints with Latest Cosmological Data
• Tightening the reins on non-minimal dark sector physics: Interacting Dark Energy with dynamical and non-dynamical equation of state
• Scalar field dark energy models: Current and forecast constraints
• CMB-S4: Iterative Internal Delensing and $r$ Constraints
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope DR6 and DESI: Structure formation over cosmic time with a measurement of the cross-correlation of CMB Lensing and Luminous Red Galaxies
• Impacts of dark energy on weighing neutrinos after DESI BAO
• Measuring the reionization optical depth without large-scale CMB polarization
• WarmSPy: a numerical study of cosmological perturbations in warm inflation
• Cosmological constraints on Galileon dark energy with broken shift symmetry
• Cosmological Constraints from the eBOSS Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest using the PRIYA Simulations
• candl: Cosmic Microwave Background Analysis with a Differentiable Likelihood
• Optimal parameterizations for observational constraints on thawing dark energy
• Dispu$\tau$able: the high cost of a low optical depth
• Constraints on primordial lepton asymmetries with full neutrino transport
• Revisiting the impact of neutrino mass hierarchies on neutrino mass constraints in light of recent DESI data
• Cosmological constraints from the cross-correlation of DESI Luminous Red Galaxies with CMB lensing from Planck PR4 and ACT DR6
• Reconstructing dark energy with model independent methods after DESI DR2 BAO
• $\Lambda$CDM is alive and well
• SOFIA/HAWC+ Far-Infrared Polarimetric Large-Area CMZ Exploration (FIREPLACE) Survey III: Full Survey Data Set
• Kick it like DESI: PNGB quintessence with a dynamically generated initial velocity
• Unified and consistent structure growth measurements from joint ACT, SPT and \textit{Planck} CMB lensing
• Robust evidence for dynamical dark energy in light of DESI DR2 and joint ACT, SPT, and Planck data
• Planck-PR4 anisotropy spectra show (better) consistency with General Relativity
• Robust Evidence for Dynamical Dark Energy from DESI Galaxy-CMB Lensing Cross-Correlation and Geometric Probes
• Improved null tests of $\Lambda$CDM and FLRW in light of DESI DR2
• Observational bounds on extended minimal theories of massive gravity: New limits on the graviton mass
• Constraining gravity with a new precision $E_G$ estimator using Planck + SDSS BOSS
• The QCD Axion: Some Like It Hot
• Shape of Dark Energy: Constraining Its Evolution with a General Parametrization
• Fresh Look at Neutrino Self-Interactions With the Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest: Constraints from EFT and PRIYA Simulations
• LiteBIRD Science Goals and Forecasts: A full-sky measurement of gravitational lensing of the CMB
• Measuring neutrino masses with joint JWST and DESI DR2 data
• How robust are the parameter constraints extending the $\Lambda$CDM model?
• Abundance and properties of dark radiation from the cosmic microwave background
• Torsion cosmology in the light of DESI, supernovae and CMB observational constraints
• The interacting vacuum and tensions: a comparison of theoretical models
• Precipitable water vapour measurement using GNSS data in the Atacama Desert for millimetre and submillimetre astronomical observations
• Cosmology from Planck CMB Lensing and DESI DR1 Quasar Tomography
• Improving Constraints on Models Addressing the Hubble Tension with CMB Delensing
• Sound-Horizon-Agnostic Inference of the Hubble Constant and Neutrino Mass from BAO, CMB Lensing, and Galaxy Weak Lensing and Clustering
• New Interpretations of the Cosmological Preference for a Negative Neutrino Mass
• Improving Constraints on Inflation with CMB Delensing
• Metastability in Emergent Dark Energy: A New Framework Confronting Cosmological Observations
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Semi-Analytic Covariance Matrices for the DR6 CMB Power Spectra
• Measuring the matter fluctuations in the Local Universe with the ALFALFA catalog
• Can the sound horizon-free measurement of $H_0$ constrain early new physics?
• Empirical Validation: Investigating the ${\Lambda }_s$CDM Model with new DESI BAO Observations
• CombineHarvesterFlow: Joint Probe Analysis Made Easy with Normalizing Flows
• Investigating the $w$CDM Model with Latest DESI BAO Observations
• Scrutinizing coupled vector dark energy in light of data
• A solution to the S8 tension through neutrino-dark matter interactions
• Impact of Low ell's on Large Scale Structure Anomalies
• Evidence for evolving dark energy from DESI DR2 BAO and Pantheon${}^{+}$, DES-Dovekie, and Union3
• CMB lensing power spectrum without noise bias
• Cosmology and Astrophysics with the Diffuse eRASS1 X-ray Angular Power Spectrum
• Dynamical Dark Energy and the Unresolved Hubble Tension: Multi-model Constraints from DESI 2025 and Other Probes
• Accurate Kappa Reconstruction Algorithm for masked shear catalog (AKRA)
• Constraints on the Hubble and matter density parameters with and without modelling the CMB anisotropies
• Probing the cosmic web in Ly$\alpha$ emission over large scales: an Intensity Mapping forecast for DECaLS/BASS and DESI
• Special Issue on Modified Gravity Approaches to the Tensions of $\Lambda$CDM: Goals and Highlights
• Measuring neutrino mass in light of ACT DR6 and DESI DR2
• A flexible parameterization to test early physics solutions to the Hubble tension with future CMB data
• A halo model of extragalactic contamination to CMB lensing, delensing, and cross-correlations
• Neutrino decays as a natural explanation of the neutrino mass tension
• Superclustering with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and Dark Energy Survey: II. Anisotropic large-scale coherence in hot gas, galaxies, and dark matter
• Constraints on the varying electron mass and early dark energy in light of ACT DR6 and DESI DR2 and the implications for inflation
• $H_0$ Without the Sound Horizon (or Supernovae): A 2% Measurement in DESI DR1
• Cosmic Strings as Dynamical Dark Energy: Novel Constraints
• Cool dark sector, concordance, and a low ${\sigma }_8$
• Thawing Quintessence: Priors, evidence, and likely trajectories
• Reconstructing the epoch of reionisation with Planck PR4
• Improving Galaxy Cluster Selection with the Outskirt Stellar Mass of Galaxies
• Impact of Galactic non-Gaussian foregrounds on CMB lensing measurements
• ForSE+: Simulating non-Gaussian CMB foregrounds at 3 arcminutes in a stochastic way based on a generative adversarial network
• The Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structure for Mixed Dark Matter Scenarios
• Challenges in Cosmic Magnification Reconstruction by Magnification Response
• KiDS-Legacy: Constraining dark energy, neutrino mass, and curvature
• Cosmological Constraints on Neutrino Masses in a Second-Order CPL Dark Energy Model
• Sensitive 3mm Imaging of Discrete Sources in the Fields of tSZ-Selected Galaxy Clusters
• Stirring the cosmic pot: how black hole feedback shapes the matter power spectrum in the Fable simulations
• Non-linear structure formation with elastic interactions in the dark sector
• Constraint on Neutrino Statistics from Cosmological Data
• Power Spectrum Emulators from Neural Networks and Tree-Based Methods
• LiteBIRD science goals and forecasts: improved full-sky reconstruction of the gravitational lensing potential through the combination of Planck and LiteBIRD data
• The magnitude of the dark ages 21-cm signal in the context of existing early and late time constraints on $\Lambda$CDM
• Conformal Killing Gravity: New Constraints from DESI DR2 BAO datasets
• Dark Matter Recoupling
• Resolving the Hubble Tension in the Early Dark Energy Framework with JWST and DESI Data
• Testing the Anton-Schmidt dark energy model with the DESI DR2 measurements
• No preference for generalized emergent dark energy from current cosmological data
• Beyond thermal approximations: Precise cosmological bounds on Axion-Like Particles
• The Hydrostatic Mass Bias and the ${\sigma }_8$ Tension: A Multi-Probe Forecast for Stage-IV/V Surveys
• Systematic effects on lensing reconstruction from a patchwork of CMB polarization maps
• Constraints on the Modified Emergent Dark Energy Model Using DESI DR2 BAO
• Scaling solutions in three-form cosmology
• QUIJOTE-TFGI polarization calibration -- Ground characterization and on-sky validation with Tau A and the Moon
• Foreground Mitigation for CMB Lensing with the Global Minimum Variance Quadratic Estimator
• Systematics mitigation for catalogue-based angular power spectra
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A demonstration of CMB lensing measurement from daytime data
• Running the small-correlated-against-large estimator at scale: Applications of small-scale CMB lensing estimators on realistic simulations
• Possible evidences for physics beyond $\Lambda$CDM from DESI DR2 data
• Breaking Free from the Swampland of Impossible Universes through the DESI Portal