High angular resolution SZ observations with NIKA and NIKA2

TL;DR

NIKA2 is a dual-band camera designed for high-resolution Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect observations of galaxy clusters, aiming to study their pressure profiles and evolution at high redshifts.

Contribution

This paper reports on the recent tSZ measurements with the NIKA camera and outlines the future NIKA2 SZ large program for high-resolution cluster observations.

Findings

Successful tSZ measurements with NIKA camera.

Development of NIKA2 for high-resolution SZ imaging.

Future plans for a large SZ observation program.

Abstract

NIKA2 (New IRAM KID Arrays) is a dual band (150 and 260 GHz) imaging camera based on Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs) and designed to work at the IRAM 30 m telescope (Pico Veleta, Spain). Built on the experience of the NIKA prototype, NIKA2 has been installed at the 30 m focal plane in October 2015 and the commissioning phase is now ongoing. Through the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect, NIKA2 will image the ionized gas residing in clusters of galaxies with a resolution of 12 and 18 arcsec FWHM (at 150 and 260 GHz, respectively). We report on the recent tSZ measurements with the NIKA camera and discuss the future objectives for the NIKA2 SZ large Program, 300h of observation dedicated to SZ science. With this program we intend to perform a high angular resolution follow-up of a cosmologically-representative sample of clusters belonging to SZ catalogues, with redshift greater than 0.5. The main output of the program will be the study of the redshift evolution of the cluster pressure profile as well as that of the scaling laws relating the cluster global properties.