Constraints on AGN feedback from its Sunyaev-Zel'dovich imprint on the cosmic background radiation

Understand

We derive constraints on feedback by active galactic nuclei (AGN) by setting limits on their thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) imprint on the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

• The amplitude of any SZ signature is small and degenerate with the poorly known sub-mm spectral energy distribution of the AGN host galaxy and other unresolved dusty sources along the line of sight.
• Here we break this degeneracy by combining microwave and sub-mm data from Planck with all-sky far-infrared maps from the AKARI satellite.
• We first test our measurement pipeline using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) redMaPPer catalogue of galaxy clusters, finding a highly significant detection ($>$$20\sigma$) of the SZ effect together with correlated dust emission.