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1. The Design and Integrated Performance of SPT-3G

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/ac374f  

   Sobrin, J. A. ; Anderson, A. J. ; Bender, A. N. ; Benson, B. A. ; Dutcher, D. ; Foster, A. ; Goeckner-Wald, N. ; Montgomery, J. ; Nadolski, A. ; Rahlin, A. ; et al ( February 2022 , The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series)

   SPT-3G is the third survey receiver operating on the South Pole Telescope dedicated to high-resolution observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Sensitive measurements of the temperature and polarization anisotropies of the CMB provide a powerful data set for constraining cosmology. Additionally, CMB surveys with arcminute-scale resolution are capable of detecting galaxy clusters, millimeter-wave bright galaxies, and a variety of transient phenomena. The SPT-3G instrument provides a significant improvement in mapping speed over its predecessors, SPT-SZ and SPTpol. The broadband optics design of the instrument achieves a 430 mm diameter image plane across observing bands of 95, 150, and 220 GHz, with 1.2′ FWHM beam response at 150 GHz. In the receiver, this image plane is populated with 2690 dual-polarization, trichroic pixels (∼16,000 detectors) read out using a 68× digital frequency-domain multiplexing readout system. In 2018, SPT-3G began a multiyear survey of 1500 deg²of the southern sky. We summarize the unique optical, cryogenic, detector, and readout technologies employed in SPT-3G, and we report on the integrated performance of the instrument.

    

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2. New Identifications and Multiwavelength Properties of Extragalactic Fermi Gamma-Ray Sources in the SPT-SZ Survey Field

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac966f  

   Zhang, Lizhong ; Vieira, Joaquin D. ; Ajello, Marco ; Malkan, Matthew A. ; Archipley, Melanie A. ; Capota, Joseph ; Foster, Allen ; Madejski, Greg ( November 2022 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract The fourth Fermi Large Area Telescope catalog (4FGL) contains 5064 γ -ray sources detected at high significance, but 26% of them still lack associations at other wavelengths. The SPT-SZ survey, conducted between 2008 and 2011 with the South Pole Telescope (SPT), covers 2500 deg 2 of the southern sky in three millimeter-wavelength (mm) bands and was used to construct a catalog of nearly 5000 emissive sources. In this study, we introduce a new cross-matching scheme to search for multiwavelength counterparts of extragalactic γ -ray sources using a mm catalog. We apply a Poissonian probability to evaluate the rate of spurious false associations and compare the multiwavelength associations from the radio, mm, near-infrared, and X-ray with 4FGL γ -ray sources. In the SPT-SZ survey field, 85% of 4FGL sources are associated with mm counterparts. These mm sources include 94% of previously associated 4FGL sources and 56% of previously unassociated 4FGL sources. The latter group contains 40 4FGL sources for which SPT has provided the first identified counterparts. Nearly all of the SPT-associated 4FGL sources can be described as flat-spectrum radio quasars or blazars. We find that the mm band is the most efficient wavelength for detecting γ -ray blazars when considering both completeness and purity. We also demonstrate that the mm band correlates better to the γ -ray band than the radio or X-ray bands. With the next generation of CMB experiments, this technique can be extended to greater sensitivities and more sky area to further complete the identifications of the remaining unknown γ -ray blazars. 

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3. Asteroid Measurements at Millimeter Wavelengths with the South Pole Telescope

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac89ec  

   Chichura, P. M. ; Foster, A. ; Patel, C. ; Ossa-Jaen, N. ; Ade, P. A. R. ; Ahmed, Z. ; Anderson, A. J. ; Archipley, M. ; Austermann, J. E. ; Avva, J. S. ; et al ( September 2022 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   We present the first measurements of asteroids in millimeter wavelength data from the South Pole Telescope (SPT), which is used primarily to study the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We analyze maps of two ∼270 deg²sky regions near the ecliptic plane, each observed with the SPTpol camera ∼100 times over 1 month. We subtract the mean of all maps of a given field, removing static sky signal, and then average the mean-subtracted maps at known asteroid locations. We detect three asteroids—(324) Bamberga, (13) Egeria, and (22) Kalliope—with signal-to-noise ratios (S/N) of 11.2, 10.4, and 6.1, respectively, at 2.0 mm (150 GHz); we also detect (324) Bamberga with an S/N of 4.1 at 3.2 mm (95 GHz). We place constraints on these asteroids’ effective emissivities, brightness temperatures, and light-curve modulation amplitude. Our flux density measurements of (324) Bamberga and (13) Egeria roughly agree with predictions, while our measurements of (22) Kalliope suggest lower flux, corresponding to effective emissivities of 0.64 ± 0.11 at 2.0 and < 0.47 at 3.2 mm. We predict the asteroids detectable in other SPT data sets and find good agreement with detections of (772) Tanete and (1093) Freda in recent data from the SPT-3G camera, which has ∼10× the mapping speed of SPTpol. This work is the first focused analysis of asteroids in data from CMB surveys, and it demonstrates we can repurpose historic and future data sets for asteroid studies. Future SPT measurements can help constrain the distribution of surface properties over a larger asteroid population.

    

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4. Evidence for AGN-regulated Cooling in Clusters at z ∼ 1.4: A Multiwavelength View of SPT-CL J0607-4448

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acae9e  

   Masterson, Megan ; McDonald, Michael ; Ansarinejad, Behzad ; Bayliss, Matthew ; Benson, Bradford A. ; Bleem, Lindsey E. ; Calzadilla, Michael S. ; Edge, Alastair C. ; Floyd, Benjamin ; Kim, Keunho J. ; et al ( February 2023 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   We present a multiwavelength analysis of the galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0607-4448 (SPT0607), which is one of the most distant clusters discovered by the South Pole Telescope atz= 1.4010 ± 0.0028. The high-redshift cluster shows clear signs of being relaxed with well-regulated feedback from the active galactic nucleus (AGN) in the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG). Using Chandra X-ray data, we construct thermodynamic profiles and determine the properties of the intracluster medium. The cool-core nature of the cluster is supported by a centrally peaked density profile and low central entropy ($K_0={18}_{-9}^{+11}$keV cm²), which we estimate assuming an isothermal temperature profile due to the limited spectral information given the distance to the cluster. Using the density profile and gas cooling time inferred from the X-ray data, we find a mass-cooling rate${\dot{M}}_{\mathrm{cool}}={100}_{-60}^{+90}{M}_{\odot }$yr⁻¹. From optical spectroscopy and photometry around the [Oii] emission line, we estimate that the BCG star formation rate is${\mathrm{SFR}}_{[\mathrm{O}\mathrm{II}]}={1.7}_{-0.6}^{+1.0}{M}_{\odot }$yr⁻¹, roughly two orders of magnitude lower than the predicted mass-cooling rate. In addition, using ATCA radio data at 2.1 GHz, we measure a radio jet power$P_{\mathrm{cav}}={3.2}_{-1.3}^{+2.1}\times {10}^{44}$erg s⁻¹, which is consistent with the X-ray cooling luminosity ($L_{\mathrm{cool}}={1.9}_{-0.5}^{+0.2}\times {10}^{44}$erg s⁻¹withinr_cool= 43 kpc). These findings suggest that SPT0607 is a relaxed, cool-core cluster with AGN-regulated cooling at an epoch shortly after cluster formation, implying that the balance between cooling and feedback can be reached quickly. We discuss the implications for these findings on the evolution of AGN feedback in galaxy clusters.

    

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5. UGC 4211: A Confirmed Dual Active Galactic Nucleus in the Local Universe at 230 pc Nuclear Separation

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aca8f0  

   Koss, Michael J. ; Treister, Ezequiel ; Kakkad, Darshan ; Casey-Clyde, J. Andrew ; Kawamuro, Taiki ; Williams, Jonathan ; Foord, Adi ; Trakhtenbrot, Benny ; Bauer, Franz E. ; Privon, George C. ; et al ( January 2023 , The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   Abstract We present multiwavelength high-spatial resolution (∼0.″1, 70 pc) observations of UGC 4211 at z = 0.03474, a late-stage major galaxy merger at the closest nuclear separation yet found in near-IR imaging (0.″32, ∼230 pc projected separation). Using Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, Very Large Telescope/MUSE+AO, Keck/OSIRIS+AO spectroscopy, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations, we show that the spatial distribution, optical and near-infrared emission lines, and millimeter continuum emission are all consistent with both nuclei being powered by accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Our data, combined with common black hole mass prescriptions, suggest that both SMBHs have similar masses, log M BH / M ⊙ ∼ 8.1 (south) and log M BH / M ⊙ ∼ 8.3 (north), respectively. The projected separation of 230 pc (∼6× the black hole sphere of influence) represents the closest-separation dual active galactic nuclei (AGN) studied to date with multiwavelength resolved spectroscopy and shows the potential of nuclear (<50 pc) continuum observations with ALMA to discover hidden growing SMBH pairs. While the exact occurrence rate of close-separation dual AGN is not yet known, it may be surprisingly high, given that UGC 4211 was found within a small, volume-limited sample of nearby hard X-ray detected AGN. Observations of dual SMBH binaries in the subkiloparsec regime at the final stages of dynamical friction provide important constraints for future gravitational wave observatories. 

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