High-significance Sunyaev–Zel'dovich measurement: Abell 1914 seen with the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager

• Published in: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Letters 2006-06, Vol.369 (1), p.L1-L4
• Main Authors: Barker, Robert, Biddulph, Phillip, Bly, Dennis, Boysen, Roger, Brown, Anthony, Clementson, Christopher, Crofts, Michael, Culverhouse, Thomas, Czeres, Jaroslaw, Dace, Roger, D'Alessandro, Robert, Doherty, Peter, Duffett-Smith, Peter, Duggan, Kenneth, Ely, John, Felvus, Mike, Flynn, William, Geisbüsch, Jörn, Grainge, Keith, Grainger, William, Hammet, David, Hills, Richard, Hobson, Michael, Holler, Christian, Jilley, Roy, Jones, Michael E., Kaneko, Takeshi, Kneissl, Rüdiger, Lancaster, Katy, Lasenby, Anthony, Marshall, Phil, Newton, Francis, Norris, Oliver, Northrop, Ian, Pooley, Guy, Quy, Vic, Saunders, Richard D. E., Scaife, Anna, Schofield, Jack, Scott, Paul, Shaw, Clive, Taylor, Angela C., Titterington, David, Velić, Marko, Waldram, Elizabeth, West, Simon, Wood, Brian, Yassin, Ghassan, Zwart, Jonathan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: cosmic microwave background; galaxies: clusters: individual: A1914
• ISSN: 1745-3925; 1745-3933
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-3933.2006.00151.x

We report the first detection of a Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (S–Z) decrement using the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager (AMI). We have made commissioning observations towards the cluster of galaxies A1914 and detected the S–Z effect with a significance of 17σ in a uv-tapered map at a mean frequency of 15.75 GHz. The integrated S–Z flux density of −8.6 ± 0.5 mJy is consistent with a simple X-ray derived model for the intracluster gas. We find that the spectrum of the decrement, measured in the six channels between 13.5–18 GHz, fits well to that expected for the S–Z effect. The sensitivity of the telescope is consistent with the figures used in our simulations of cluster surveys with AMI.