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1. The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 Gravitational Lensing Map and Cosmological Parameters

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acff5f  

   Madhavacheril, Mathew S. ; Qu, Frank J. ; Sherwin, Blake D. ; MacCrann, Niall ; Li, Yaqiong ; Abril-Cabezas, Irene ; Ade, Peter A. R. ; Aiola, Simone ; Alford, Tommy ; Amiri, Mandana ; et al ( February 2024 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   We present cosmological constraints from a gravitational lensing mass map covering 9400 deg²reconstructed from measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) made by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) from 2017 to 2021. In combination with measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations and big bang nucleosynthesis, we obtain the clustering amplitudeσ₈= 0.819 ± 0.015 at 1.8% precision,$S_8\equiv {\sigma }_8{({\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\mathrm{m}}/0.3)}^{0.5}=0.840\pm 0.028$, and the Hubble constantH₀= (68.3 ± 1.1) km s⁻¹Mpc⁻¹at 1.6% precision. A joint constraint with Planck CMB lensing yieldsσ₈= 0.812 ± 0.013,$S_8\equiv {\sigma }_8{({\mathrm{\Omega }}_{\mathrm{m}}/0.3)}^{0.5}=0.831\pm 0.023$, andH₀= (68.1 ± 1.0) km s⁻¹Mpc⁻¹. These measurements agree with ΛCDM extrapolations from the CMB anisotropies measured by Planck. We revisit constraints from the KiDS, DES, and HSC galaxy surveys with a uniform set of assumptions and find thatS₈from all three are lower than that from ACT+Planck lensing by levels ranging from 1.7σto 2.1σ. This motivates further measurements and comparison, not just between the CMB anisotropies and galaxy lensing but also between CMB lensing probingz∼ 0.5–5 on mostly linear scales and galaxy lensing atz∼ 0.5 on smaller scales. We combine with CMB anisotropies to constrain extensions of ΛCDM, limiting neutrino masses to ∑m_ν< 0.13 eV (95% c.l.), for example. We describe the mass map and related data products that will enable a wide array of cross-correlation science. Our results provide independent confirmation that the universe is spatially flat, conforms with general relativity, and is described remarkably well by the ΛCDM model, while paving a promising path for neutrino physics with lensing from upcoming ground-based CMB surveys.

    

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2. Improving Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Cluster Number Counts with CMB-cluster-lensing Data: Results from the SPT-SZ Survey and Forecasts for the Future

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac6a55  

   Chaubal, P. S. ; Reichardt, C. L. ; Gupta, N. ; Ansarinejad, B. ; Aylor, K. ; Balkenhol, L. ; Baxter, E. J. ; Bianchini, F. ; Benson, B. A. ; Bleem, L. E. ; et al ( June 2022 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   We show the improvement to cosmological constraints from galaxy cluster surveys with the addition of cosmic microwave background (CMB)-cluster lensing data. We explore the cosmological implications of adding mass information from the 3.1σdetection of gravitational lensing of the CMB by galaxy clusters to the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) selected galaxy cluster sample from the 2500 deg²SPT-SZ survey and targeted optical and X-ray follow-up data. In the ΛCDM model, the combination of the cluster sample with the Planck power spectrum measurements prefers${\sigma }_8{\left({\mathrm{\Omega }}_m/0.3\right)}^{0.5}=0.831\pm 0.020$. Adding the cluster data reduces the uncertainty on this quantity by a factor of 1.4, which is unchanged whether the 3.1σCMB-cluster lensing measurement is included or not. We then forecast the impact of CMB-cluster lensing measurements with future cluster catalogs. Adding CMB-cluster lensing measurements to the SZ cluster catalog of the ongoing SPT-3G survey is expected to improve the expected constraint on the dark energy equation of statewby a factor of 1.3 toσ(w) = 0.19. We find the largest improvements from CMB-cluster lensing measurements to be forσ₈, where adding CMB-cluster lensing data to the cluster number counts reduces the expected uncertainty onσ₈by respective factors of 2.4 and 3.6 for SPT-3G and CMB-S4.

    

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3. Cosmological Tensions and the Transitional Planck Mass Model

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acfed0  

   Kable, Joshua A. ; Benevento, Giampaolo ; Addison, Graeme E. ; Bennett, Charles L. ( December 2023 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   In this follow-up analysis, we update previous constraints on the transitional Planck mass (TPM) modified gravity model using the latest version of EFTCAMB and provide new constraints using South Pole Telescope (SPT) and Planck anisotropy data along with Planck cosmic microwave background lensing, baryon acoustic oscillations, and Type Ia supernovae data and a Hubble constant,H₀, prior from local measurements. We find that large shifts in the Planck mass lead to large suppression of power on small scales that is disfavored by both the SPT and Planck data. Using only the SPT temperature-polarization–polarization-polarization (TE-EE) data, this suppression of power can be compensated for by an upward shift of the scalar index ton_s= 1.003 ± 0.016, resulting in$H_0={71.94}_{-0.85}^{+0.86}$km m⁻¹Mpc⁻¹and a ∼7% shift in the Planck mass. Including the Planck temperature-temperature (TT) ℓ≤ 650 and Planck TE-EE data restricts the shift to be <5% at 2σwithH₀= 70.65 ± 0.66 km m⁻¹Mpc⁻¹. Excluding theH₀prior, the SPT and Planck data constrain the shift in the Planck mass to be <3% at 2σwith a best-fit value of 0.04%, consistent with the Λ cold dark matter limit. In this case$H_0={69.09}_{-0.68}^{+0.69}$km s⁻¹Mpc⁻¹, which is partially elevated by the dynamics of the scalar field in the late Universe. This differs from early dark energy models that prefer higher values ofH₀when the high-ℓPlanck TT data are excluded. We additionally constrain TPM using redshift space distortion data from BOSS DR12 and cosmic shear, galaxy–galaxy lensing, and galaxy clustering data from DES Y1, finding both disfavor transitions close to recombination, but earlier Planck mass transitions are allowed.

    

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4. Patchy Kinetic Sunyaev–Zel’dovich Effect with Controlled Reionization History and Morphology

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac8481  

   Chen, Nianyi ; Trac, Hy ; Mukherjee, Suvodip ; Cen, Renyue ( February 2023 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   Using the novel semi-numerical code for reionization AMBER, we model the patchy kinetic Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (kSZ) effect by directly specifying the reionization history with the redshift midpointz_mid, duration Δ_z, and asymmetryA_z. We further control the ionizing sources and radiation through the minimum halo massM_hand the radiation mean free pathλ_mfp. AMBER reproduces the free-electron number density and the patchy kSZ power spectrum of radiation–hydrodynamic simulations at the target resolution (1 Mpch⁻¹) with matched reionization parameters. With a suite of (2 Gpc/h)³simulations using AMBER, we first constrain the redshift midpoint 6.0 <z_mid< 8.9 using the Planck 2018 Thomson optical depth result (95% CL). Then, assumingz_mid= 8, we find that the amplitude of$D_{\mathit{\ell }=3000}^{\mathrm{pkSZ}}$scales linearly with the duration of reionization Δ_zand is consistent with the 1σupper limit from South Pole Telescope (SPT) results up to Δ_z< 5.1 (Δ_zencloses 5%–95% ionization). Moreover, a shorterλ_mfpcan lead to a ∼10% lower$D_{\mathit{\ell }=3000}^{\mathrm{pkSZ}}$and a flatter slope in the$D_{\mathit{\ell }=3000}^{\mathrm{pkSZ}}-{\mathrm{\Delta }}_z$scaling relation, thereby affecting the constraints on Δ_zatℓ= 3000. Allowingz_midandλ_mfpto vary simultaneously, we get spectra consistent with the SPT result (95% CL) up to Δ_z= 12.8 (butA_z> 8 is needed to ensure the end of reionization beforez= 5.5). We show that constraints on the asymmetry require ∼0.1μk²measurement accuracy at multipoles other thanℓ= 3000. Finally, we find that the amplitude and shape of the kSZ spectrum are only weakly sensitive toM_hunder a fixed reionization history and radiation mean free path.

    

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5. Full-sky, Arcminute-scale, 3D Models of Galactic Microwave Foreground Dust Emission Based on Filaments

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac54b2  

   Hervías-Caimapo, Carlos ; Huffenberger, Kevin M. ( March 2022 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   We present theDustFilamentscode, a full-sky model for the millimeter Galactic emission of thermal dust. Our model, composed of millions of filaments that are imperfectly aligned with the magnetic field, is able to reproduce the main features of the dust angular power spectra at 353 GHz as measured by the Planck mission. Our model is made up of a population of filaments with sizes following a Pareto distribution$\propto L_a^{-2.445}$, with an axis ratio between short and long semiaxesϵ∼ 0.16 and an angle of magnetic field misalignment with a dispersion rms(θ_LH) = 10°. On large scales, our model follows a Planck-based template. On small scales, our model produces spectra that behave like power laws up toℓ∼ 4000 or smaller scales by considering even smaller filaments, limited only by computing power. We can produce any number of Monte Carlo realizations of small-scale Galactic dust. Our model will allow tests of how the small-scale non-Gaussianity affects CMB weak lensing and the consequences for the measurement of primordial gravitational waves or relativistic light relic species. Our model also can generate frequency decorrelation on the modified blackbody spectrum of dust and is freely adjustable to different levels of decorrelation. This can be used to test the performance of component separation methods and the impact of frequency spectrum residuals on primordialB-mode surveys. The filament density we paint in the sky is also able to reproduce the general level of non-Gaussianities measured by Minkowski functionals in the Planck 353 GHz channel map.

    

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