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Register a new userMERGHERS Pilot: MeerKAT discovery of diffuse emission in nine massive Sunyaev-Zeldovich-selected galaxy clusters from ACT
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The MeerKAT Exploration of Relics, Giant Halos, and Extragalactic Radio Sources (MERGHERS) survey is a planned project to study a large statistical sample of galaxy clusters with the MeerKAT observatory. Here we present the results of a 16--hour pilot project, observed in response to the 2019 MeerKAT Shared Risk proposal call, to test the feasibility of using MeerKAT for a large cluster study using short (0.2--2.1,hour) integration times. The pilot focuses on 1.28,GHz observations of 13 massive, low-to-intermediate redshift ($0.22 < z < 0.65$) clusters from the Sunyaev-Zeldovich-selected Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) DR5 catalogue that show multiwavelength indications of dynamical disturbance. With a 70 per cent detection rate (9/13 clusters), this pilot study validates our proposed MERGHERS observing strategy and provides twelve detections of diffuse emission, eleven of them new, indicating the strength of MeerKAT for such types of studies. The detections (signal-to-noise ratio $gtrsim6$) are summarised as follows: two systems host both relic(s) and a giant radio halo, five systems host radio halos, and two have candidate radio halos. Power values, $k$-corrected to 1.4 GHz assuming a fiducial spectral index of $alpha = -1.3 pm 0.4$, are consistent with known radio halo and relic scaling relations.
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The MeerKAT telescope will be one of the most sensitive radio arrays in the pre-SKA era. Here we discuss a low-frequency SZ-selected cluster survey with MeerKAT, the MeerKAT Extended Relics, Giant Halos, and Extragalactic Radio Sources (MERGHERS) survey. The primary goal of this survey is to detect faint signatures of diffuse cluster emission, specifically radio halos and relics. SZ-selected cluster samples offer a homogeneous, mass-limited set of targets out to higher redshift than X-ray samples. MeerKAT is sensitive enough to detect diffuse radio emission at the faint levels expected in low-mass and high-redshift clusters, thereby enabling radio halo and relic formation theories to be tested with a larger statistical sample over a significantly expanded phase space. Complementary multiwavelength follow-up observations will provide a more complete picture of any clusters found to host diffuse emission, thereby enhancing the scientific return of the MERGHERS survey.
We present a detection-significance-limited catalog of 21 Sunyaev-Zeldovich selected galaxy clusters. These clusters, along with 1 unconfirmed candidate, were identified in 178 deg^2 of sky surveyed in 2008 by the South Pole Telescope to a depth of 18 uK-arcmin at 150 GHz. Optical imaging from the Blanco Cosmology Survey (BCS) and Magellan telescopes provided photometric (and in some cases spectroscopic) redshift estimates, with catalog redshifts ranging from z=0.15 to z>1, with a median z = 0.74. Of the 21 confirmed galaxy clusters, three were previously identified as Abell clusters, three were presented as SPT discoveries in Staniszewski et al, 2009, and three were first identified in a recent analysis of BCS data by Menanteau et al, 2010; the remaining 12 clusters are presented for the first time in this work. Simulated observations of the SPT fields predict the sample to be nearly 100% complete above a mass threshold of M_200 ~ 5x10^14 M_sun/h at z = 0.6. This completeness threshold pushes to lower mass with increasing redshift, dropping to ~4x10^14 M_sun/h at z=1. The size and redshift distribution of this catalog are in good agreement with expectations based on our current understanding of galaxy clusters and cosmology. In combination with other cosmological probes, we use the cluster catalog to improve estimates of cosmological parameters. Assuming a standard spatially flat wCDM cosmological model, the addition of our catalog to the WMAP 7-year analysis yields sigma_8 = 0.81 +- 0.09 and w = -1.07 +- 0.29, a ~50% improvement in precision on both parameters over WMAP7 alone.
We present follow-up observations with the Sunyaev-Zeldovich Array (SZA) of optically-confirmed galaxy clusters found in the equatorial survey region of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT): ACT-CL J0022-0036, ACT-CL J2051+0057, and ACT-CL J2337+0016. ACT-CL J0022-0036 is a newly-discovered, massive (10^15 Msun), high-redshift (z=0.81) cluster revealed by ACT through the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (SZE). Deep, targeted observations with the SZA allow us to probe a broader range of cluster spatial scales, better disentangle cluster decrements from radio point source emission, and derive more robust integrated SZE flux and mass estimates than we can with ACT data alone. For the two clusters we detect with the SZA we compute integrated SZE signal and derive masses from the SZA data only. ACT-CL J2337+0016, also known as Abell 2631, has archival Chandra data that allow an additional X-ray-based mass estimate. Optical richness is also used to estimate cluster masses and shows good agreement with the SZE and X-ray-based estimates. Based on the point sources detected by the SZA in these three cluster fields and an extrapolation to ACTs frequency, we estimate that point sources could be contaminating the SZE decrement at the <= 20% level for some fraction of clusters.
We used optical imaging and spectroscopic data to derive substructure estimates for local Universe ($z < 0.11$) galaxy clusters from two different samples. The first was selected through the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect by the Planck satellite and the second is an X-ray selected sample. In agreement to X-ray substructure estimates we found that the SZ systems have a larger fraction of substructure than the X-ray clusters. We have also found evidence that the higher mass regime of the SZ clusters, compared to the X-ray sample, explains the larger fraction of disturbed objects in the Planck data. Although we detect a redshift evolution in the substructure fraction, it is not sufficient to explain the different results between the higher-z SZ sample and the X-ray one. We have also verified a good agreement ($sim$60$%$) between the optical and X-ray substructure estimates. However, the best level of agreement is given by the substructure classification given by measures based on the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG), either the BCG$-$X-ray centroid offset, or the magnitude gap between the first and second BCGs. We advocate the use of those two parameters as the most reliable and cheap way to assess cluster dynamical state. We recommend an offset cut of $sim$0.01$times$R$_{500}$ to separate relaxed and disturbed clusters. Regarding the magnitude gap the separation can be done at $Delta m_{12} = 1.0$. The central galaxy paradigm (CGP) may not be valid for $sim$20$%$ of relaxed massive clusters. This fraction increases to $sim$60$%$ for disturbed systems.
The masses of galaxy clusters are a key tool to constrain cosmology through the physics of large-scale structure formation and accretion. Mass estimates based on X-ray and Sunyaev--Zeldovich measurements have been found to be affected by the contribution of non-thermal pressure components, due e.g. to kinetic gas energy. The characterization of possible ordered motions (e.g. rotation) of the intra-cluster medium could be important to recover cluster masses accurately. We update the study of gas rotation in clusters through the maps of the kinetic Sunyaev--Zeldovich effect, using a large sample of massive synthetic galaxy clusters ($ M_{vir} > 5times 10^{14} h^{-1}$M$_odot$ at $z~=~0 $) from MUSIC high-resolution simulations. We select few relaxed objects showing peculiar rotational features, as outlined in a companion work. To verify whether it is possible to reconstruct the expected radial profile of the rotational velocity, we fit the maps to a theoretical model accounting for a specific rotational law, referred as the vp2b model. We find that our procedure allows to recover the parameters describing the gas rotational velocity profile within two standard deviations, both with and without accounting for the bulk velocity of the cluster. The amplitude of the temperature distortion produced by the rotation is consistent with theoretical estimates found in the literature, and it is of the order of 23 per cent of the maximum signal produced by the cluster bulk motion. We also recover the bulk velocity projected on the line of sight consistently with the simulation true value.
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