The atacama cosmology telescope (ACT): Beam profiles and first SZ cluster maps

A. D. Hincks, V. Acquaviva, P. A.R. Ade, P. Aguirre, M. Amiri, J. W. Appel, L. F. Barrientos, E. S. Battistelli, J. R. Bond, B. Brown, B. Burger, J. Chervenak, S. Das, M. J. Devlin, S. R. Dicker, W. B. Doriese, J. Dunkley, R. Dünner, T. Essinger-Hileman, R. P. FisherJ. W. Fowler, A. Hajian, M. Halpern, M. Hasselfield, C. Hernández-Monteagudo, G. C. Hilton, M. Hilton, R. Hlozek, K. M. Huffenberger, D. H. Hughes, J. P. Hughes, L. Infante, K. D. Irwin, R. Jimenez, J. B. Juin, M. Kaul, J. Klein, A. Kosowsky, J. M. Lau, M. Limon, Y. T. Lin, R. H. Lupton, T. A. Marriage, D. Marsden, K. Martocci, P. Mauskopf, F. Menanteau, K. Moodley, H. Moseley, C. B. Netterfield, M. D. Niemack, M. R. Nolta, L. A. Page, L. Parker, B. Partridge, H. Quintana, B. Reid, N. Sehgal, J. Sievers, D. N. Sperge, S. T. Staggs, O. Stryzak, D. S. Swetz, E. R. Switzer, R. Thornton, H. Trac, C. Tucker, L. Verde, R. Warne, G. Wilson, E. Wollack, Y. Zhao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

80 Scopus citations

Abstract

TheAtacamaCosmology Telescope (ACT) is currently observing the cosmicmicrowave background with arcminute resolution at 148 GHz, 218 GHz, and 277 GHz. In this paper, we present ACT's first results. Data have been analyzed using a maximum-likelihood map-making method which uses B-splines to model and remove the atmospheric signal. It has been used to make high-precision beam maps from which we determine the experiment's window functions. This beam information directly impacts all subsequent analyses of the data. We also used the method to map a sample of galaxy clusters via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect and show five clusters previously detected with X-ray or SZ observations. We provide integrated Compton-y measurements for each cluster. Of particular interest is our detection of the z = 0.44 component of A3128 and our current non-detection of the low-redshift part, providing strong evidence that the further cluster is more massive as suggested by X-ray measurements. This is a compelling example of the redshift-independent mass selection of the SZ effect.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)423-438
Number of pages16
JournalAstrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
Volume191
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2010

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

Keywords

  • Cosmic background radiation
  • Cosmology: observations
  • Galaxies: clusters: general
  • Methods: data analysis

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