Astron. Astrophys. 336, 425-432 (1998)

A tale of two SZ sources

J.G. , Bartlett ¹, A. , Blanchard ¹, D. and Barbosa <sup>1, 2

1</sup> Observatoire de Strasbourg, Université Louis Pasteur, 11, rue de l'Université, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
Unité associée au CNRS (http://astro.u-strasbg.fr/Obs.html)
² Centro de Astrofísica da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 823, 4150 Porto, Portugal

Received 16 July 1997 / Accepted 14 May 1998

Abstract

The recent discovery of two flux decrements in deep radio maps obtained by the VLA and the Ryle Telescope can have powerful implications for the density parameter of the Universe, . We outline these implications by modeling the decrements as the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect from two clusters assuming their properties are similar to those of the low redshift population. In this case, the absence of any optical or X-ray counterparts argues that the clusters must be at large redshifts. We highlight the difficulty this poses for a critical cosmology by a comparison with a fiducial open model with (). Applying the phenomenological X-ray luminosity-temperature relation needed to explain the EMSS cluster redshift distribution, as inferred by Oukbir and Blanchard (1997), we convert the X-ray band upper limits to lower limits on the clusters' redshifts. Comparison of the counts implied by these two SZ detections with model predictions, for clusters with redshifts larger than these lower limits, illustrates quantitatively the inability of the critical cosmology to account for such high-redshift clusters. On the other hand, the open model with remains consistent with the existence of the two objects; it possibly has, however, difficulties with current limits on spectral distortions and temperature fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background. The discussion demonstrates the value of SZ cluster searches for testing cosmological models and theories of structure formation.

Key words: cosmology: cosmic microwave background cosmology: observations cosmology: theory cosmology: large-scale structure of Universe galaxies: clusters: general

Send offprint requests to: J.G. Bartlett
Correspondence to: bartlett@astro.u-strasbg.fr

This article contains no SIMBAD objects.

Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. The two sources
• 3. Modeling the SZ effect
  • 3.1. SZ counts and redshift distribution
  • 3.2. Observed SZ signals
• 4. Modeling the expected X-ray emission - turning point of the plot
• 5. The plot comes together
• 6. Discussion
• 7. Summary
• Acknowledgements
• References

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 1998

Online publication: July 20, 1998
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