Princeton University Thunch Talk

Abstract: As the largest objects that have had time to form in the lifetime of the universe, clusters of galaxies are important tracers of the growth of structure in the universe. Their number and size independently constrain the universe's formational history, and hence probe its underlying cosmology. They also form 'laboratories for astrophysics', as the astrophysical processes of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and supernova feedback on the cosmological growth of galaxy clusters. Questions around the growth and structure of galaxy clusters abound, such as which processes are most important for feedback, how these processes actually couple to the inter-cluster media (ICM), etc. MUSTANG-2 is a high resolution (9"), high sensitivity (~10s of uJy) instrument on the Green Bank Telescope which provides a unique view into galaxy clusters via the scattering of cosmic microwave background photons off of the ICM, a process known as the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect. This talk will give an overview of some recent progress made using MUSTANG-2, in particular studying the formational history of clusters at high redshift and the process of AGN feedback. I will also give a short prospectus on the future of high-resolution tSZ studies of galaxy clusters.