A Simple Empirically Motivated Template for the Unresolved Thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple, empirically motivated model for the unresolved thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect power spectrum, based on universal gas pressure profiles and constrained by X-ray and Planck data, useful for future experiments.

Contribution

The authors introduce a straightforward model for the tSZ power spectrum that incorporates departures from self-similar evolution and matches recent observations and simulations.

Findings

Model aligns with Planck observations for z<1

Reproduces tSZ power spectra from simulations within uncertainties

Provides a practical template for upcoming experiments

Abstract

We develop a model for the power spectrum of unresolved clusters of galaxies arising from the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect. The model is based on a'universal' gas pressure profile constrained by X-ray observations and includes a parameter to describe departures from self-similar evolution. The model is consistent with recent Planck observations of the tSZ effect for X-ray clusters with redshifts z<1 and reproduces the low amplitude for the tSZ inferred from recent ground based observations. By adjusting two free parameters, we are able to reproduce the tSZ power spectra from recent numerical simulations to an accuracy that is well within theoretical uncertainties. Our model provides a simple, empirically motivated tSZ template that may be useful for the analysis of new experiments such as Planck.