A future test of gravitation using galaxy cluster velocities

作者:Kosowsky Arthur*; Bhattacharya Suman
来源:Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, 2009, 80(6): 062003.
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevD.80.062003

摘要

The accelerating expansion of the Universe at recent epochs has called into question the validity of general relativity on cosmological scales. One probe of gravity is a comparison of expansion history of the Universe with the history of structure growth via gravitational instability: general relativity predicts a specific relation between these two observables. Here we show that the mean pairwise streaming velocity of galaxy clusters provides a useful method of constraining this relation. Galaxy cluster velocities can be measured via the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich distortion of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Future surveys can provide large enough catalogs of cluster velocities to discriminate between general relativity and other proposed gravitational theories.

  • 出版日期2009-9