A structure factor approach to the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect
Statistical Mechanics
2009-11-07 v1 Astrophysics
Abstract
Structure factor theory (SFT) is applied to analyze distortions to the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) due the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect (SZE) in typical clusters of galaxies. It is shown that a suitable structure factor associated to a collisionless (Knudsen) gas is able to reproduce the SZE distortion of the CMBR . Physical arguments suggest that SFT yields an approximate solution to the Kompaneets equation and sets plausible values for the two ``free'' parameters involved in the calculation of the spectral distortion. Finally, further applications of the SFT to other standard cosmological problems are briefly discussed.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0109274,
title = {A structure factor approach to the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect},
author = {Alfredo Sandoval-Villalbazo},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0109274},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
6 pages, 3 figures. RevTex. Submitted to Physica A