The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A demonstration of CMB lensing measurement from daytime data

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a robust measurement of the CMB lensing power spectrum using daytime data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, achieving high significance and informing cosmological parameters despite observational challenges.

Contribution

It introduces a method to analyze daytime CMB data from ACT, overcoming mirror deformation issues, and provides a high-significance lensing measurement compatible with nighttime results.

Findings

Detected CMB lensing at 17σ significance

Measured lensing amplitude consistent with Planck-ACT ΛCDM

Constrained σ8 to 0.826 ± 0.027

Abstract

We present a cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing power spectrum analysis using daytime data (11am-11pm UTC) gathered by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) over the period 2017-2022 (ACT Data Release 6). This dataset is challenging to analyze because the Sun heats and deforms the telescope mirror, complicating the characterization of the telescope. We perform more than one hundred null and consistency checks to ensure the robustness of our measurement and its compatibility with nighttime observations. We detect the CMB lensing power spectrum at 17$\sigma$ significance, with an amplitude $A_\textrm{lens} = 1.045 \pm 0.063$ with respect to the prediction from the best-fit Planck-ACT CMB power spectrum $\Lambda$CDM cosmology. In combination with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) data, this corresponds to a constraint on the amplitude of matter fluctuations $\sigma_8 = 0.826 \pm 0.027$. The analysis presented here is especially relevant for ground-based millimeter-wave CMB experiments at the Atacama site, paving the way for future analyses making use of both nighttime and daytime data to place tight constraints on cosmological parameters.