We estimate the amount of the {it missing baryons} detected by the Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background in the direction of Central Galaxies (CGs) identified in the Sloan galaxy survey. The peculiar motion of the gas inside and arou
nd the CGs unveils values of the Thomson optical depth $tau_{rm T}$ in the range $0.2$--$2times 10^{-4}$, indicating that the regions probed around CGs contain roughly half of the total amount of baryons in the Universe at the epoch where the CGs are found. If baryons follow dark matter, the measured $tau_{rm T}$s are compatible with the detection all the baryons existing inside and around the CGs.
In the context of the study of the Integrated Sachs Wolfe effect (ISW), we construct a template of the projected density distribution up to $zsimeq 0.7$ by using the Luminous Galaxies (LGs) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR8. We use a photo-z cata
logue trained with more than a hundred thousand galaxies from BOSS in the SDSS DR8 imaging area. We consider two different LG samples whose selection matches that of SDSS-III/BOSS: the LOWZ sample ($zin [0.15,0.5]$) and the CMASS sample ($zin[0.4,0.7]$). When building the LG density maps we use the information from star density, survey footprint, seeing conditions, sky emission, dust extinction and airmass to explore the impact of these artifacts on the two LG samples. In agreement with previous studies, we find that the CMASS sample is particularly sensitive to Galactic stars, which dominate the contribution to the auto-angular power spectrum below $ell=7$. Other potential systematics affect mostly the low multipole range ($ellin[2,7]$), but leave fluctuations on smaller scales practically unchanged. The resulting power spectra in the multipole range $ellin[2,100]$ for the LOWZ, CMASS and LOWZ+CMASS samples are compatible with linear $Lambda$CDM expectations and constant bias values of $b=1.98 pm 0.11$, $2.08pm0.14$ and $1.88pm 0.11$, respectively, with no traces of non-Gaussianity: $f_{rm NL}^{rm local}=59pm 75$ at 95% confidence level for the full LOWZ+CMASS sample in the range $ellin[4,100]$. After cross-correlating WMAP-9yr data with the LOWZ+CMASS LG density field, the ISW signal is detected at the level of 1.62--1.69$,sigma$. While this result is in close agreement with predictions from Monte Carlo simulations in the concordance $Lambda$CDM model, it cannot rule out by itself an Einstein-de Sitter scenario, and has a moderately low signal compared to previous studies conducted on subsets of this LG sample.
Through a large ensemble of Gaussian realisations and a suite of large-volume N-body simulations, we show that in a standard LCDM scenario, supervoids and superclusters in the redshift range $zin[0.4,0.7]$ should leave a {em small} signature on the I
SW effect of the order $sim 2 mu$K. We perform aperture photometry on WMAP data, centred on such superstructures identified from SDSS LRGs, and find amplitudes at the level of 8 -- 11$ mu$K -- thus confirming the earlier work of Granett et al 2008. If we focus on apertures of the size $sim3.6degr$, then our realisations indicate that LCDM is discrepant at the level of $sim4 sigma$. If we combine all aperture scales considered, ranging from 1degr--20degr, then the discrepancy becomes $sim2sigma$, and it further lowers to $sim 0.6 sigma$ if only 30 superstructures are considered in the analysis (being compatible with no ISW signatures at $1.3sigma$ in this case). Full-sky ISW maps generated from our N-body simulations show that this discrepancy cannot be alleviated by appealing to Rees-Sciama mechanisms, since their impact on the scales probed by our filters is negligible. We perform a series of tests on the WMAP data for systematics. We check for foreground contaminants and show that the signal does not display the correct dependence on the aperture size expected for a residual foreground tracing the density field. The signal also proves robust against rotation tests of the CMB maps, and seems to be spatially associated to the angular positions of the supervoids and superclusters. We explore whether the signal can be explained by the presence of primordial non-Gaussianities of the local type. We show that for models with $FNL=pm100$, whilst there is a change in the pattern of temperature anisotropies, all amplitude shifts are well below $<1mu$K.
It is well known that Thomson scattering of CMB photons in galaxy clusters introduces new anisotropies in the CMB radiation field, but however little attention is payed to the fraction of CMB photons that are scattered off the line of sight, causing
a slight blurring of the CMB anisotropies present at the moment of scattering. In this work we study this {it blurring} effect, and find that it has a non-negligible impact on estimations of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich (kSZ) effect: it induces a 10% correction in 20-40% of the clusters/groups, and a 100% correction in $sim 5$% of the clusters in an ideal (noiseless) experiment. We explore the possibility of using this blurring term to probe the CMB anisotropy field at different epochs in our Universe. In particular, we study the required precision in the removal of the kSZ that enables detecting the blurring term $-tau_T delta T / T_0$ in galaxy cluster populations placed at different redshift shells. By mapping this term in those shells, we would provide a tomographic probe for the growth of the Integrated Sachs Wolfe effect (ISW) during the late evolutionary stages of the Universe. We find that the required precision of the cluster peculiar velocity removal is of the order of 100 -- 200 km s$^{-1}$ in the redshift range 0.2 -- 0.8, after assuming that all clusters more massive than 10$^{14}$ h$^{-1}$ M$_{odot}$ are observable. These errors are comparable to the total expected linear line of sight velocity dispersion for clusters in WMAPV cosmogony, and correspond to a residual level of roughly 900 -- 1800 $tau_T mu$K per cluster, including all types of contaminants and systematics. Were this precision requirement achieved, then independent constraints on the intrinsic cosmological dipole would be simultaneously provided.
If the peculiar motion of galaxy groups and clusters indeed resembles that of the surrounding baryons, then the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich (kSZ) pattern of those massive halos should be closely correlated to the kSZ pattern of all surrounding electron
s. Likewise, it should also be correlated to the CMB E-mode polarization field generated via Thomson scattering after reionization. We explore the cross-correlation of the kSZ generated in groups and clusters to the all sky E-mode polarization in the context of upcoming CMB experiments like Planck, ACT, SPT or APEX. We find that this cross-correlation is effectively probing redshifts below $z=3-4$ (where most of baryons cannot be seen), and that it arises in the very large scales ($l<10$). The significance with which this cross-correlation can be measured depends on the Poissonian uncertainty associated to the number of halos where the kSZ is measured and on the accuracy of the kSZ estimations themselves. Assuming that Planck can provide a cosmic variance limited E-mode polarization map at $l<20$ and S/N $sim 1$ kSZ estimates can be gathered for all clusters more massive than $10^{14} M_{odot}$, then this cross-correlation should be measured at the 2--3 $sigma$ level. Further, if an all-sky ACT or SPT type CMB experiment provides similar kSZ measurements for all halos above $10^{13} M_{odot}$, then the cross-correlation total signal to noise (S/N) ratio should be at the level of 4--5. A detection of this cross-correlation would provide direct and definite evidence of bulk flows and missing baryons simultaneously.
