Statistical Imprints of SZ Effects in the Cosmic Microwave Background

Abstract

We review several aspects of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect associated with the large scale baryon distribution and its characteristic signatures in the statistics of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies. We discuss (1) the contributions to the angular power spectrum from the thermal and kinetic SZ effects, (2) the effect of SZ non-Gaussianities on cosmological parameter estimation, and (3) the SZ-induced CMB polarization towards galaxy clusters. We also discuss the extent to which recent measurements of small angular scale CMB anisotropy can be accounted for by SZ clusters and the potential use of SZ polarization towards large samples of galaxy clusters as a probe of dark energy parameters.

28 pages, 9 figure panels. Review article based on invited summer school lectures at "Background Microwave Radiation and Intracluster Cosmology", July 2004, Villa Monastero, Varenna, Italy. To appear in Proc. Enrico Fermi, International School of Physics Course CLIX, eds. F. Melchiorri & Y. Rephaeli