Measurement of the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect with Planck and BOSS data

Abstract

We present a new measurement of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (kSZ) using Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) and Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) data. Using the `LowZ North/South' galaxy catalogue from BOSS DR12, and the group catalogue from BOSS DR13, we evaluate the mean pairwise kSZ temperature associated with BOSS galaxies. We construct a `Central Galaxies Catalogue' (CGC) which consists of isolated galaxies from the original BOSS data set, and apply the aperture photometry (AP) filter to suppress the primary CMB contribution. By constructing a halo model to fit the pairwise kSZ function, we constrain the mean optical depth to be $\bar{\tau}=(0.53\pm0.32)\times10^{-4}(1.65\,\sigma)$ for `LowZ North CGC', $\bar{\tau}=(0.30\pm0.57)\times10^{-4}(0.53\,\sigma)$ for `LowZ South CGC', and $\bar{\tau}=(0.43\pm0.28)\times10^{-4}(1.53\,\sigma)$ for `DR13 Group'. In addition, we vary the radius of the AP filter and find that the AP size of $7\,{\rm arcmin}$ gives the maximum detection for $\bar{\tau}$. We also investigate the dependence of the signal with halo mass and find $\bar{\tau}=(0.32\pm0.36)\times10^{-4}(0.8\,\sigma)$ and $\bar{\tau}=(0.67\pm0.46)\times10^{-4}(1.4\,\sigma)$ for `DR13 Group' with halo mass restricted to, respectively, less and greater than its median halo mass, $10^{12}\, h^{-1}{\rm M}_{\odot}$. For the `LowZ North CGC' sample restricted to $M_{\rm h} \gtrsim 10^{14}\, h^{-1}{\rm M}_\odot$ there is no detection of the kSZ signal because these high mass halos are associated with the high-redshift galaxies of the LowZ North catalogue, which have limited contribution to the pairwise kSZ signals.