The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 Maps

TL;DR

This paper presents the sixth data release of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, providing high-resolution maps of the CMB temperature and polarization over a large sky area, enabling advanced cosmological analyses.

Contribution

The paper introduces the latest ACT DR6 maps with improved resolution, coverage, and data products, based on extensive observations from 2017 to 2022.

Findings

Maps cover 19,000 sq. degrees with 10 uK arcmin depth

Data available on LAMBDA and interactive web atlas

Includes temperature and polarization anisotropy maps

Abstract

We present Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) Data Release 6 (DR6) maps of the Cosmic Microwave Background temperature and polarization anisotropy at arcminute resolution over three frequency bands centered on 98, 150 and 220 GHz. The maps are based on data collected with the AdvancedACT camera over the period 2017--2022 and cover 19,000 square degrees with a median combined depth of 10 uK arcmin. We describe the instrument, mapmaking and map properties and illustrate them with a number of figures and tables. The ACT DR6 maps and derived products are available on LAMBDA at https://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/act/actadv_prod_table.html. We also provide an interactive web atlas at https://phy-act1.princeton.edu/public/snaess/actpol/dr6/atlas and HiPS data sets in Aladin (e.g. https://alasky.cds.unistra.fr/ACT/DR4DR6/color_CMB).