The SZ effect contribution to WMAP. A Cross-Correlation between WMAP and ROSAT

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  • 6 March 2003
Abstract
We cross-correlate WMAP and ROSAT and look for common features in both data sets. We use the power spectrum of the product maps and the cross-power spectrum to highlight a possible correlation. The power spectrum of the product maps detects a common structure with a coherence length of about 2 degrees while the cross-power spectrum does not show any significant deviation from 0. We look for the origin of the correlation in the power spectrum and find that most of the correlation excess is due to just one bright source in ROSAT which correlates with a 3 sigma peak in WMAP. Once this source is removed the correlation disappears. From the fact that we do not observe a significant correlation between the two data sets we are able to set an upper limit on the possible models. From these models, we predict the level of contamination of the SZ effect on the power spectrum of the CMB. This contribution is found to be negligible for WMAP and is expected to be very small in experiments like ACBAR or CBI, but can be important for future high resolution experiments. We also discuss possible sources of systematic errors.

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