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Hensley, Brandon

Publications and source records attributed to Hensley, Brandon.

Atacama Cosmology Telescope: High-resolution component-separated maps across one third of the sky

Observations of the millimeter sky contain valuable information on a number of signals, including the blackbody cosmic microwave background (CMB), Galactic emissions, and the Compton-y distortion due to the thermal Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (tSZ) effect. Extracting new insight into cosmological and astrophysical questions often requires combining multiwavelength observations to spectrally isolate one component. Here, in this work, we present a new arc-minute-resolution Compton-y map, which traces out the line-of-sight-integrated electron pressure, as well as maps of the CMB in intensity and E-mode polarization, across a third of the sky (around 13,000 deg 2 ). We produce these through a joint analysis of data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) data release 4 and 6 at frequencies of roughly 93, 148, and 225 GHz, together with data from the Planck satellite at frequencies between 30 and 545 GHz. We present detailed verification of an internal linear combination pipeline implemented in a needlet frame that allows us to efficiently suppress Galactic contamination and account for spatial variations in the ACT instrument noise. These maps provide a significant advance, in noise levels and resolution, over the existing Planck component-separated maps and will enable a host of science goals including studies of cluster and galaxy astrophysics, inferences of the cosmic velocity field, primordial non-Gaussianity searches, and gravitational lensing reconstruction of the CMB.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 Gravitational Lensing Map and Cosmological Parameters

We present cosmological constraints from a gravitational lensing mass map covering 9400 deg2 reconstructed from measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) made by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) from 2017 to 2021. In combination with measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations and big bang nucleosynthesis, we obtain the clustering amplitude σ8 = 0.819 ± 0.015 at 1.8% precision, S 8 ≡ σ 8 (Ω m /0.3) 0.5 = 0.840 ± 0.028, and the Hubble constant H 0 = (68.3 ± 1.1) km s -1 Mpc -1 at 1.6% precision. A joint constraint with Planck CMB lensing yields σ 8 = 0.812 ± 0.013, S 8 ≡ σ 8 (Ω m /0.3) 0.5 = 0.831 ± 0.023 , and H0 = (68.1 ± 1.0) km s -1 Mpc -1 . These measurements agree with ΛCDM extrapolations from the CMB anisotropies measured by Planck. We revisit constraints from the KiDS, DES, and HSC galaxy surveys with a uniform set of assumptions and find that S8 from all three are lower than that from ACT+Planck lensing by levels ranging from 1.7σ to 2.1σ. This motivates further measurements and comparison, not just between the CMB anisotropies and galaxy lensing but also between CMB lensing probing z ~ 0.5–5 on mostly linear scales and galaxy lensing at z 0.5 on smaller scales. We combine with CMB anisotropies to constrain extensions of ΛCDM, limiting neutrino masses to Σm ν < 0.13 eV (95% c.l.), for example. We describe the mass map and related data products that will enable a wide array of cross-correlation science. Our results provide independent confirmation that the universe is spatially flat, conforms with general relativity, and is described remarkably well by the ΛCDM model, while paving a promising path for neutrino physics with lensing from upcoming ground-based CMB surveys.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: High-resolution component-separated maps across one-third of the sky

Observations of the millimeter sky contain valuable information on a number of signals, including the blackbody cosmic microwave background (CMB), Galactic emissions, and the Compton-$y$ distortion due to the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect. Extracting new insight into cosmological and astrophysical questions often requires combining multi-wavelength observations to spectrally isolate one component. In this work, we present a new arcminute-resolution Compton-$y$ map, which traces out the line-of-sight-integrated electron pressure, as well as maps of the CMB in intensity and E-mode polarization, across a third of the sky (around 13,000 sq.~deg.). We produce these through a joint analysis of data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) Data Release 4 and 6 at frequencies of roughly 93, 148, and 225 GHz, together with data from the \textit{Planck} satellite at frequencies between 30 GHz and 545 GHz. We present detailed verification of an internal linear combination pipeline implemented in a needlet frame that allows us to efficiently suppress Galactic contamination and account for spatial variations in the ACT instrument noise. These maps provide a significant advance, in noise levels and resolution, over the existing \textit{Planck} component-separated maps and will enable a host of science goals including studies of cluster and galaxy astrophysics, inferences of the cosmic velocity field, primordial non-Gaussianity searches, and gravitational lensing reconstruction of the CMB.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Snowmass2021 Cosmic Frontier: Cosmic Microwave Background Measurements White Paper

This is a solicited whitepaper for the Snowmass 2021 community planning exercise. The paper focuses on measurements and science with the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). The CMB is foundational to our understanding of modern physics and continues to be a powerful tool driving our understanding of cosmology and particle physics. In this paper, we outline the broad and unique impact of CMB science for the High Energy Cosmic Frontier in the upcoming decade. We also describe the progression of ground-based CMB experiments, which shows that the community is prepared to develop the key capabilities and facilities needed to achieve these transformative CMB measurements.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗