A measurement of secondary cosmic microwave background anisotropies from the 2500-square-degree SPT-SZ survey

We present measurements of secondary cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies and cosmic infrared background (CIB) fluctuations using data from the South Pole Telescope (SPT) covering the complete 2540 sq.deg. SPT-SZ survey area. Data in the three SPT-SZ frequency bands centered at 95, 150, and 220 GHz, are used to produce six angular power spectra (three single-frequency auto-spectra and three cross-spectra) covering the multipole range 2000 < ell < 11000 (angular scales 5 > theta > 1). These are the most precise measurements of the angular power spectra at ell > 2500 at these frequencies. The main contributors to the power spectra at these angular scales and frequencies are the primary CMB, CIB, thermal and kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effects (tSZ and kSZ), and radio galaxies. We include a constraint on the tSZ power from a measurement of the tSZ bispectrum from 800 sq.deg. of the SPT-SZ survey. We measure the tSZ power at 143 GHz to be DtSZ = 4.08 +0.58 -0.67 mu K^2 and the kSZ power to be DkSZ = 2.9 +- 1.3 mu K^2. The data prefer positive kSZ power at 98.1% CL. We measure a correlation coefficient of xi = 0.113 +0.057 -0.054 between sources of tSZ and CIB power, with xi < 0 disfavored at a confidence level of 99.0%. The constraint on kSZ power can be interpreted as an upper limit on the duration of reionization. When the post-reionization homogeneous kSZ signal is accounted for, we find an upper limit on the duration Delta z < 5.4 at 95% CL.

Constraints on Cosmology from the Cosmic Microwave Background Power Spectrum of the 2500 ${rm deg}^2$ SPT-SZ Survey

We explore extensions to the $Lambda$CDM cosmology using measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from the recent SPT-SZ survey, along with data from WMAP7 and measurements of $H_0$ and BAO. We check for consistency within $Lambda$CDM between these datasets, and find some tension. The CMB alone gives weak support to physics beyond $Lambda$CDM, due to a slight trend relative to $Lambda$CDM of decreasing power towards smaller angular scales. While it may be due to statistical fluctuation, this trend could also be explained by several extensions. We consider running index (nrun), as well as two extensions that modify the damping tail power (the primordial helium abundance $Y_p$ and the effective number of neutrino species $N_{rm eff}$) and one that modifies the large-scale power due to the ISW effect (the sum of neutrino masses $sum m_ u$). These extensions have similar observational consequences and are partially degenerate when considered simultaneously. Of the 6 one-parameter extensions considered, we find CMB to have the largest preference for nrun with -0.046<nrun<-0.003 at 95% confidence, which strengthens to a 2.7$sigma$ indication of nrun<0 from CMB+BAO+$H_0$. Detectable non-zero nrun is difficult to explain in the context of single-field, slow-roll inflation models. We find $N_{rm eff}=3.62pm0.48$ for the CMB, which tightens to $N_{rm eff}=3.71pm0.35$ from CMB+BAO+$H_0$. Larger values of $N_{rm eff}$ relieve the mild tension between CMB, BAO and $H_0$. When the SZ selected galaxy cluster abundances ($rm{SPT_{CL}}$) data are also included, we obtain $N_{rm eff}=3.29pm0.31$. Allowing for $sum m_ u$ gives a 3$sigma$ detection of $sum m_ u$>0 from CMB+BAO+$H_0$+$rm{SPT_{CL}}$. The median value is $(0.32pm0.11)$ eV, a factor of six above the lower bound set by neutrino oscillation observations. ... [abridged]

A Measurement of the Damping Tail of the Cosmic Microwave Background Power Spectrum with the South Pole Telescope

We present a measurement of the angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using data from the South Pole Telescope (SPT). The data consist of 790 square degrees of sky observed at 150 GHz during 2008 and 2009. Here we present the power spectrum over the multipole range 650 < ell < 3000, where it is dominated by primary CMB anisotropy. We combine this power spectrum with the power spectra from the seven-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data release to constrain cosmological models. We find that the SPT and WMAP data are consistent with each other and, when combined, are well fit by a spatially flat, LCDM cosmological model. The SPT+WMAP constraint on the spectral index of scalar fluctuations is ns = 0.9663 +/- 0.0112. We detect, at ~5-sigma significance, the effect of gravitational lensing on the CMB power spectrum, and find its amplitude to be consistent with the LCDM cosmological model. We explore a number of extensions beyond the LCDM model. Each extension is tested independently, although there are degeneracies between some of the extension parameters. We constrain the tensor-to-scalar ratio to be r < 0.21 (95% CL) and constrain the running of the scalar spectral index to be dns/dlnk = -0.024 +/- 0.013. We strongly detect the effects of primordial helium and neutrinos on the CMB; a model without helium is rejected at 7.7-sigma, while a model without neutrinos is rejected at 7.5-sigma. The primordial helium abundance is measured to be Yp = 0.296 +/- 0.030, and the effective number of relativistic species is measured to be Neff = 3.85 +/- 0.62. The constraints on these models are strengthened when the CMB data are combined with measurements of the Hubble constant and the baryon acoustic oscillation feature. Notable improvements include ns = 0.9668 +/- 0.0093, r < 0.17 (95% CL), and Neff = 3.86 +/- 0.42. The SPT+WMAP data show...

Improved constraints on cosmic microwave background secondary anisotropies from the complete 2008 South Pole Telescope data

We report measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) power spectrum from the complete 2008 South Pole Telescope (SPT) data set. We analyze twice as much data as the first SPT power spectrum analysis, using an improved cosmological parameter estimator which fits multi-frequency models to the SPT 150 and $220,$GHz bandpowers. We find an excellent fit to the measured bandpowers with a model that includes lensed primary CMB anisotropy, secondary thermal (tSZ) and kinetic (kSZ) Sunyaev-Zeldovich anisotropies, unclustered synchrotron point sources, and clustered dusty point sources. In addition to measuring the power spectrum of dusty galaxies at high signal-to-noise, the data primarily constrain a linear combination of the kSZ and tSZ anisotropy contributions at $150,$GHz and $ell=3000$: $D^{tSZ}_{3000} + 0.5,D^{kSZ}_{3000} = 4.5pm 1.0 ,mu{rm K}^2$. The 95% confidence upper limits on secondary anisotropy power are $D^{tSZ}_{3000} < 5.3,mu{rm K}^2$ and $D^{kSZ}_{3000} < 6.5,mu{rm K}^2$. We also consider the potential correlation of dusty and tSZ sources, and find it incapable of relaxing the tSZ upper limit. These results increase the significance of the lower than expected tSZ amplitude previously determined from SPT power spectrum measurements. We find that models including non-thermal pressure support in groups and clusters predict tSZ power in better agreement with the SPT data. Combining the tSZ power measurement with primary CMB data halves the statistical uncertainty on $sigma_8$. However, the preferred value of $sigma_8$ varies significantly between tSZ models. Improved constraints on cosmological parameters from tSZ power spectrum measurements require continued progress in the modeling of the tSZ power.

Angular Power Spectra of the Millimeter Wavelength Background Light from Dusty Star-forming Galaxies with the South Pole Telescope

We use data from the first 100 square-degree field observed by the South Pole Telescope (SPT) in 2008 to measure the angular power spectrum of temperature anisotropies contributed by the background of dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) at millimeter wavelengths. From the auto and cross-correlation of 150 and 220 GHz SPT maps, we significantly detect both Poisson distributed and, for the first time at millimeter wavelengths, clustered components of power from a background of DSFGs. The spectral indices between 150 and 220 GHz of the Poisson and clustered components are found to be 3.86 +- 0.23 and 3.8 +- 1.3 respectively, implying a steep scaling of the dust emissivity index beta ~ 2. The Poisson and clustered power detected in SPT, BLAST (at 600, 860, and 1200 GHz), and Spitzer (1900 GHz) data can be understood in the context of a simple model in which all galaxies have the same graybody spectrum with dust emissivity index of beta = 2 and dust temperature T_d = 34 K. In this model, half of the 150 GHz background light comes from redshifts greater than 3.2. We also use the SPT data to place an upper limit on the amplitude of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich power spectrum at l = 3000 of 13 uK^2 at 95% confidence.

High resolution CMB power spectrum from the complete ACBAR data set

In this paper, we present results from the complete set of cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation temperature anisotropy observations made with the Arcminute Cosmology Bolometer Array Receiver (ACBAR) operating at 150 GHz. We include new data from the final 2005 observing season, expanding the number of detector-hours by 210% and the sky coverage by 490% over that used for the previous ACBAR release. As a result, the band-power uncertainties have been reduced by more than a factor of two on angular scales encompassing the third to fifth acoustic peaks as well as the damping tail of the CMB power spectrum. The calibration uncertainty has been reduced from 6% to 2.1% in temperature through a direct comparison of the CMB anisotropy measured by ACBAR with that of the dipole-calibrated WMAP5 experiment. The measured power spectrum is consistent with a spatially flat, LambdaCDM cosmological model. We include the effects of weak lensing in the power spectrum model computations and find that this significantly improves the fits of the models to the combined ACBAR+WMAP5 power spectrum. The preferred strength of the lensing is consistent with theoretical expectations. On fine angular scales, there is weak evidence (1.1 sigma) for excess power above the level expected from primary anisotropies. We expect any excess power to be dominated by the combination of emission from dusty protogalaxies and the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (SZE). However, the excess observed by ACBAR is significantly smaller than the excess power at ell > 2000 reported by the CBI experiment operating at 30 GHz. Therefore, while it is unlikely that the CBI excess has a primordial origin; the combined ACBAR and CBI results are consistent with the source of the CBI excess being either the SZE or radio source contamination.