Dr. Alex Saro (Univ. of Trieste, INAF, IFPU): The South Pole Telescope (SPT) cluster survey and its cosmological implications

Date of publication: 30. 4. 2019

Monday physics colloquium

Ponedeljek, 6.5.2019, ob 16:15 v predavalnici F1, FMF, Jadranska 19

Dr. Alex Saro
University of Trieste, INAF, IFPU

The South Pole Telescope (SPT) cluster
survey and its cosmological implications

Povzetek / Abstract:
The 10-meter South Pole Telescope (SPT) is a millimeter
wavelength telescope designed to conduct sensitive
measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at
arc-minute resolution. The SPT has successfully conducted a
2500 square degree survey to find clusters of galaxies from
their distortion of the CMB, known as the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich
(SZ) effect. The surface brightness of the SZ effect is redshift
independent which allows a SZ survey to provide a nearly
mass limited cluster sample out to the earliest epochs of
cluster formation. The SPT has identified ~700 of cluster
candidates. Of these, ~500 have been optically confirmed,
with the majority being newly discovered clusters at z > 0.5. I
will summarize the main results from the SPT cluster survey,
including cosmological constraints from their measurement of
the growth of structure.