Cosmology with the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich Effect

▪ Abstract The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) provides a unique way to map the large-scale structure of the universe as traced by massive clusters of galaxies. As a spectral distortion of the cosmic microwave background, the SZE is insensitive to the redshift of the galaxy cluster, making it well-suited for studies of clusters at all redshifts, and especially at reasonably high redshifts (z > 1) where the abundance of clusters is critically dependent on the underlying cosmology. Recent high signal-to-noise detections of the SZE have enabled interesting constraints on the Hubble constant and on the matter density of the universe using small samples of galaxy clusters. Upcoming SZE surveys are expected to…