Date: 02 March 2022
Title: Shadows of giants: using the SZ effect at high resolution to study the largest structure in the Universe
Abstract: Representing the final stage of the inexorable gravitational collapse of cosmic structures, galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound structures in our universe. As such, they are pivotal tools for tracing large-scale structure formation and testing the properties of the ubiquitous dark matter, as well as cosmic laboratories for studying astrophysical plasma in conditions not accessible on Earth or in other astrophysical systems. Many of the advances in the characterisation of the physical and thermodynamic properties of galaxy clusters have been possible thanks to observations of the X-ray emission dominated by thermal bremsstrahlung from the hot and low-density intracluster medium (ICM). Nevertheless, in the last decade, observations of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect from galaxy clusters have started rivaling the more traditional X-ray measurements in terms of both resolution and sensitivity. Pioneering observations of the SZ effect over scales of a few arcseconds conclusively set the central role of the SZ effect in the multi-wavelength characterization of galaxy clusters. In my talk, I will present recent and ongoing studies based on observations by state-of-the-art (sub)millimeter facilities (e.g., ALMA, GBT/MUSTANG-2) that are providing paramount insights into the complex physics of the ICM, and allowing for disclosing a wealth of information on the varied mechanisms (e.g., shocks, sloshing) shaping the cluster properties, on the evolution of baryons across cosmic times, or on the complex feedback loop between galaxies and the environment they reside and evolve within.
