Cosmology with the pairwise kinematic SZ effect: Calibration and validation using hydrodynamical simulations

Understand

We study the potential of the kinematic SZ effect as a probe for cosmology, focusing on the pairwise method.

• The main challenge is disentangling the cosmologically interesting mean pairwise velocity from the cluster optical depth and the associated uncertainties on the baryonic physics in clusters.
• Furthermore, the pairwise kSZ signal might be affected by internal cluster motions or correlations between velocity and optical depth.
• We investigate these effects using the Magneticum cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, one of the largest simulations of this kind performed to date.