{
  "abstract": "Baryonic feedback remains one of the largest uncertainties in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations, with different prescriptions producing divergent predictions for the fraction of gas expelled from haloes, the radial extent of the gas expulsion and the impact on large scale matter clustering. We present the first systematic study of the kinetic Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (kSZ) effect across a wide range of simulations (FLAMINGO, ANTILLES, BAHAMAS, SIMBA, FABLE, and their variants), and compare them directly to DESI Year 1 + ACT kSZ measurements. We ensure a like-for-like comparison with observations by developing a robust methodology that accounts for the halo mass selection using galaxy–galaxy lensing, cosmic variance, miscentring, and satellites, establishing the kSZ effect as a new benchmark for the simulations. We find that fiducial feedback models are disfavoured by ${\\gt} 3\\sigma$, while simulations with more powerful active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback within the FLAMINGO and BAHAMAS suites reproduce the observed kSZ signal within ${\\lt} 2\\sigma$. We use the ANTILLES simulation suite to demonstrate that the amplitude of the kSZ effect is a strong predictor of matter power spectrum suppression, competitive with baryon fraction metrics. This paper clearly demonstrates the potential of kSZ measurements in evaluating feedback physics and for advancing the fidelity of cosmological simulations.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA ,",
    "Kavli Institute for Cosmology (KICC), University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA ,",
    "Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544 ,",
    "Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University , Liverpool L3 5RF ,",
    "Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape , Bellville, Cape Town 7535 ,",
    "Institute for Astronomy, Royal Observatory, University of Edinburgh , Edinburgh EH9 3HJ ,",
    "South African Astronomical Observatories , Observatory, Cape Town 7925 ,",
    "Leiden Observatory, Leiden University , PO Box 9513, NL-2300 RA Leiden ,",
    "Lorentz Institute for Theoretical Physics, Leiden University , PO box 9506, NL-2300 RA Leiden ,"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 10,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Leah Bigwood",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9870-3331"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "M. Yamamoto",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1585-997X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Jared Siegel",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9337-0902"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Alexandra Amon",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6445-0559"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Ian G. McCarthy",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1286-483X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        5,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Romeel Davé",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2842-9434"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Jaime Salcido",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8918-5229"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7,
        8
      ],
      "name": "Matthieu Schaller",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2395-4902"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Joop Schaye",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0668-5560"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Tianyi Yang",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0670-3447"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4jrs21e2c0qvd.bib",
  "cited_by": 28,
  "doi": "10.1093/mnras/stag1314",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "4jrs21e2c0qvd",
  "issns": [
    "0035-8711",
    "1365-2966",
    "1365-8711"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag1314",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3103|Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W4415885758",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-07-10",
  "publisher": "Oxford University Press",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4jrs21e2c0qvd.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T13:26:43Z",
      "native_id": "W4415885758",
      "source": "openalex",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag1314"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "openalex:3103|Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena",
      "subfield": "galaxies"
    }
  ],
  "title": "The kinetic Sunyaev Zeldovich effect as a benchmark for AGN feedback models in hydrodynamical simulations: insights from DESI + ACT",
  "title_text": "The kinetic Sunyaev Zeldovich effect as a benchmark for AGN feedback models in hydrodynamical simulations: insights from DESI + ACT",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T13:20:38Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/4jrs21e2c0qvd",
  "venue": "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",
  "versions": []
}