Measuring the redshift dependence of the CMB monopole temperature with PLANCK data (1203.1825v1)

Abstract: We study the power of PLANCK data to constrain deviations of the Cosmic Microwave Background black body temperature from adiabatic evolution using the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich anisotropy induced by clusters of galaxies. We consider two types of data sets: the cosmological signal is removed in the Time Ordered Information or is removed from the final maps; and two different statistical estimators, based on the ratio of temperature anisotropies at two different frequencies and on a fit to the spectral variation of the cluster signal with frequency. To test for systematics, we construct a template from clusters drawn from a hydro-simulation included in the pre-launch Planck Sky Model. We demonstrate that, using a proprietary catalog of X-ray selected clusters with measured redshifts, electron densities and X-ray temperatures, we can constrain deviations of adiabatic evolution, measured by the parameter $\alpha$ in the redshift scaling $T(z)=T_0(1+z)^{1-\alpha}$, with an accuracy of $\sigma_\alpha=0.011$ in the most optimal case and with $\sigma_\alpha=0.016$ for a less optimal case. These results represent a factor 2-3 improvement over similar measurements carried out using quasar spectral lines and a factor 6-20 with respect to earlier results using smaller cluster samples.