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Large-scale $B$ -mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a prime target for current and future experiments in search of primordial gravitational waves. With increasingly sensitive instruments being deployed, secondary $B$ -modes induced by the weak gravitational lensing of CMB photons are becoming an important limitation and need to be removed, a process known as delensing. In this work, we combine internally reconstructed CMB lensing maps from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) data release 6 (DR6) with galaxy samples from unWISE and a map of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) fluctuations from Planck to produce a well-correlated tracer of the CMB lensing field. Our coadded tracer, shown to be 55%–85% correlated with the true lensing convergence at multipoles $L\le 2000$ , is then convolved with ACT DR6 $E$ -mode polarization to yield a template of the lensing $B$ -modes. We assess its performance on a wide range of scales by using it to delens ACT DR6 and Planck $B$ -modes over 23% of the sky, removing around 39% of the lensing power at $100\le l\le 1500$ and 47% at $30\le l\le 300$ , respectively. Our template achieves the highest delensing efficiency to date and will be useful for the analysis of early polarization maps from the Simons Observatory. We finally outline prospects for further improvements by including additional large-scale structure tracers from upcoming cosmological surveys. 

Large sinusoidal variations in the radio light curves of the blazars PKS J0805–0111 and PKS 2131–021 have recently been discovered with an 18-year monitoring programme at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory, making these systems strong supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) candidates. The sinusoidal variations in PKS 2131–021 dominate its light curves from 2.7 GHz to optical frequencies. We report sinusoidal variations observed in both objects with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) at 95, 147, and 225 GHz consistent with the radio light curves. The ACT 95 GHz light curve of PKS 2131–021 agrees well with the contemporaneous 91.5 GHz ALMA light curve and is comparable in quality, while the ACT light curves of PKS J0805–0111, for which there are no ALMA or other millimetre light curves, show that PKS 2131–021 is not an isolated case, and that this class of AGN exhibits the following properties: (a) the sinusoidal pattern dominates over a broad range of frequencies; (b) the amplitude of the sine wave compared to its mean value is monochromatic (i.e. nearly constant across frequencies); (c) the phase of the sinusoid phase changes monotonically as a function of frequency; (d) the sinusoidal variations are intermittent. We describe a physical model for SMBHB systems, the modified Kinetic Orbital model, that explains all four of these phenomena. The monitoring of ∼8000 blazars by the Simons Observatory over the next decade should provide a large number of SMBHB candidates that will shed light on the nature of the nanohertz gravitational-wave background. 

Abstract In this paper, we present the results of a blind survey for compact sources in 243 Galaxy clusters that were identified using the thermal Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect (tSZ). The survey was carried out at 90 GHz using MUSTANG2 on the Green Bank Telescope and achieved a 5σdetection limit of 1 mJy in the center of each cluster. We detected 24 discrete sources. The majority (18) of these correspond to known radio sources, and of these, five show signs of significant variability, either with time or in spectral index. The remaining sources have no clear counterparts at other wavelengths. Searches for galaxy clusters via the tSZ strongly rely on observations at 90 GHz, and the sources found have the potential to bias mass estimates of clusters. We compare our results to the Websky simulation that can be used to estimate the source contamination in galaxy cluster catalogs. While the simulation shows a good match to our observations at the clusters’ centers, it does not match our source distribution further out. Sources over 104″ from a cluster’s center bias the tSZ signal high, for some of the sources found, by over 50%. When averaged over the whole cluster population, the effect is smaller but still at a level of 1%–2%. We also discovered that unlike previous measurements and simulations, we see an enhancement of source counts in the outer regions of the clusters and fewer sources than expected in the centers of this tSZ-selected sample. 

We have performed targeted searches of known extragalactic transient events at millimetre wavelengths using nine seasons (2013–2021) of 98, 150, and 229 GHz Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) observations that mapped ∼40 per cent of the sky for most of the data volume. Our data cover 88 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), 12 tidal disruption events (TDEs), and 203 other transients, including supernovae (SNe). We stack our ACT observations to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the maps. In all cases but one, we do not detect these transients in the ACT data. The single candidate detection (event AT2019ppm), seen at ∼5σ significance in our data, appears to be due to active galactic nuclei activity in the host galaxy coincident with a transient alert. For each source in our search we provide flux upper limits. For example, the medians for the 95 per cent confidence upper limits at 98 GHz are 15, 18, and 16 mJy for GRBs, SNe, and TDEs, respectively, in the first month after discovery. The projected sensitivity of future wide-area cosmic microwave background surveys should be sufficient to detect many of these events using the methods described in this paper. 

We present Weak Gravitational Lensing measurements of a sample of 157 clusters within the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS), detected with a > 5σthermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (SZ) signal by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). Using a halo-model approach, we constrained the average total cluster mass,M_WL, accounting for the ACT cluster selection function of the full sample. We find that the SZ cluster mass estimateM_SZ, which was calibrated using X-ray observations, is biased withM_SZ/M_WL = (1 − b_SZ) = 0.65 ± 0.05. Separating the sample into six mass bins, we find no evidence of a strong mass dependency for the mass bias, (1 − b_SZ). Adopting this ACT-KiDS SZ mass calibration would bring thePlanckSZ cluster count into agreement with the counts expected from thePlanckcosmic microwave background ΛCDM cosmological model, although it should be noted that the cluster sample considered in this work has a lower average massM_SZ, uncor = 3.64 × 10¹⁴ M_⊙compared to thePlanckcluster sample which has an average mass in the rangeM_SZ, uncor = (5.5 − 8.5)×10¹⁴ M_⊙, depending on the sub-sample used. 

Abstract The increasing statistical power of cosmic microwave background (CMB) datasets requires a commensurate effort in understanding their noise properties. The noise in maps from ground-based instruments is dominated by large-scale correlations, which poses a modeling challenge. This paper develops novel models of the complex noise covariance structure in the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Data Release 6 (ACT DR6) maps. We first enumerate the noise properties that arise from the combination of the atmosphere and the ACT scan strategy. We then prescribe a class of Gaussian, map-based noise models, including a new wavelet-based approach that uses directional wavelet kernels for modeling correlated instrumental noise. The models are empirical, whose only inputs are a small number of independent realizations of the same region of sky. We evaluate the performance of these models against the ACT DR6 data by drawing ensembles of noise realizations. Applying these simulations to the ACT DR6 power spectrum pipeline reveals a ∼ 20% excess in the covariance matrix diagonal when compared to an analytic expression that assumes noise properties are uniquely described by their power spectrum. Along with our public code,mnms, this work establishes a necessary element in the science pipelines of both ACT DR6 and future ground-based CMB experiments such as the Simons Observatory (SO). 

We present the tightest cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing constraints to date on the growth of structure by combining CMB lensing measurements from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), the South Pole Telescope (SPT) and \textit{Planck}. Each of these surveys individually provides lensing measurements with similarly high statistical power, achieving signal-to-noise ratios of approximately 40. The combined lensing bandpowers represent the most precise CMB lensing power spectrum measurement to date with a signal-to-noise ratio of 61 and an amplitude of Areconlens=1.025±0.017 with respect to the theory prediction from the best-fit CMB \textit{Planck}-ACT cosmology. The bandpowers from all three lensing datasets, analyzed jointly, yield a 1.6% measurement of the parameter combination SCMBL8≡σ8(Ωm/0.3)0.25=0.825+0.015−0.013. Including Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) data improves the constraint on the amplitude of matter fluctuations to σ8=0.829±0.009 (a 1.1% determination). When combining with uncalibrated supernovae from \texttt{Pantheon+}, we present a 4% sound-horizon-independent estimate of H0=66.4±2.5kms−1Mpc−1. The joint lensing constraints on structure growth and present-day Hubble rate are fully consistent with a ΛCDM model fit to the primary CMB data from \textit{Planck} and ACT. While the precise upper limit is sensitive to the choice of data and underlying model assumptions, when varying the neutrino mass sum within the ΛCDM cosmological model, the combination of primary CMB, BAO and CMB lensing drives the probable upper limit for the mass sum towards lower values, comparable to the minimum mass prior required by neutrino oscillation experiments. 

Abstract We present a high-significance cross-correlation of CMB lensing maps from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) Data Release 6 (DR6) with luminous red galaxies (LRGs) from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Legacy Survey spectroscopically calibrated by DESI. We detect this cross-correlation at a significance of 38σ; combining our measurement with thePlanck Public Release 4 (PR4) lensing map, we detect the cross-correlation at 50σ. Fitting this jointly with the galaxy auto-correlation power spectrum to break the galaxy bias degeneracy withσ₈, we perform a tomographic analysis in four LRG redshift bins spanning 0.4 ≤z≤ 1.0 to constrain the amplitude of matter density fluctuations through the parameter combinationS₈^×=σ₈(Ω_m/ 0.3)^0.4. Prior to unblinding, we confirm with extragalactic simulations that foreground biases are negligible and carry out a comprehensive suite of null and consistency tests. Using a hybrid effective field theory (HEFT) model that allows scales as small ask_max= 0.6 h/ Mpc, we obtain a 3.3% constraint onS₈^×=σ₈(Ω_m/ 0.3)^0.4= 0.792^+0.024_-0.028from ACT data, as well as constraints onS₈^×(z) that probe structure formation over cosmic time.Our result is consistent with the early-universe extrapolation from primary CMB anisotropies measured byPlanck PR4 within 1.2σ. Jointly fitting ACT andPlanck lensing cross-correlations we obtain a 2.7% constraint ofS₈^×= 0.776^+0.019_-0.021, which is consistent with the Planck early-universe extrapolation within 2.1σ, with the lowest redshift bin showing the largest difference in mean. The latter may motivate further CMB lensing tomography analyses atz< 0.6 to assess the impact of potential systematics or the consistency of the ΛCDM model over cosmic time. 

Abstract We present deep X-ray and radio observations of the fast blue optical transient (FBOT) AT 2020xnd/ZTF 20acigmel at z = 0.2433 from 13 days to 269 days after explosion. AT 2020xnd belongs to the category of optically luminous FBOTs with similarities to the archetypal event AT 2018cow. AT 2020xnd shows luminous radio emission reaching L ν ≈ 8 × 10 29 erg s −1 Hz −1 at 20 GHz and 75 days post-explosion, accompanied by luminous and rapidly fading soft X-ray emission peaking at L X ≈ 6 × 10 42 erg s −1 . Interpreting the radio emission in the context of synchrotron radiation from the explosion’s shock interaction with the environment, we find that AT 2020xnd launched a high-velocity outflow ( v ∼ 0.1 c –0.2 c ) propagating into a dense circumstellar medium (effective M ̇ ≈ 10 − 3 M ⊙ yr −1 for an assumed wind velocity of v w = 1000 km s −1 ). Similar to AT 2018cow, the detected X-ray emission is in excess compared to the extrapolated synchrotron spectrum and constitutes a different emission component, possibly powered by accretion onto a newly formed black hole or neutron star. These properties make AT 2020xnd a high-redshift analog to AT 2018cow, and establish AT 2020xnd as the fourth member of the class of optically luminous FBOTs with luminous multiwavelength counterparts.