Angular power spectra of the millimeter-wavelength background light from dusty star-forming galaxies with the South Pole Telescope

N. R. Hall, R. Keisler, L. Knox, C. L. Reichardt, P. A.R. Ade, K. A. Aird, B. A. Benson, L. E. Bleem, J. E. Carlstrom, C. L. Chang, H. M. Cho, T. M. Crawford, A. T. Crites, T. De Haan, M. A. Dobbs, E. M. George, N. W. Halverson, G. P. Holder, W. L. Holzapfel, J. D. HrubesM. Joy, A. T. Lee, E. M. Leitch, M. Lueker, J. J. McMahon, J. Mehl, S. S. Meyer, J. J. Mohr, T. E. Montroy, S. Padin, T. Plagge, C. Pryke, J. E. Ruhl, K. K. Schaffer, L. Shaw, E. Shirokoff, H. G. Spieler, B. Stalder, Z. Staniszewski, A. A. Stark, E. R. Switzer, K. Vanderlinde, J. D. Vieira, R. Williamson, O. Zahn

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123 Scopus citations

Abstract

We use data from the first 100 deg2 field observed by the South Pole Telescope (SPT) in 2008 to measure the angular power spectrum of temperature anisotropies contributed by the background of dusty star-forming galaxies (DSFGs) at millimeter wavelengths. From the auto- and cross-correlation of 150 and 220 GHz SPT maps, we significantly detect both Poisson distributed and, for the first time at millimeter wavelengths, clustered components of power from a background of DSFGs. The spectral indices of the Poisson and clustered components are found to be .α150-220-P = 3.86 ± 0.23 and α 150-220 C = 3.8 ± 1.3, implying a steep scaling of the dust emissivity index β ∼ 2. The Poisson and clustered power detected in SPT, BLAST (at 600, 860, and 1200 GHz), and Spitzer (1900 GHz) data can be understood in the context of a simple model in which all galaxies have the same graybody spectrum with dust emissivity index of β = 2 and dust temperature Td = 34 K. In this model, half of the 150 GHz background light comes from redshifts greater than 3.2. We also use the SPT data to place an upper limit on the amplitude of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich power spectrum at ℓ = 3000 of 13μK2 at 95% confidence.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)632-646
Number of pages15
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume718
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2010

Keywords

  • Cosmic background radiation
  • Galaxies: abundances
  • Large
  • Scale structure of universe
  • Submillimeter: diffuse background
  • Submillimeter: galaxies

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