The kinetic Sunyaev Zeldovich effect as a benchmark for AGN feedback models in hydrodynamical simulations: insights from DESI + ACT
9 affiliations
- 1Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA ,
- 2Kavli Institute for Cosmology (KICC), University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA ,
- 3Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544 ,
- 4Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University , Liverpool L3 5RF ,
- 5Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape , Bellville, Cape Town 7535 ,
- 6Institute for Astronomy, Royal Observatory, University of Edinburgh , Edinburgh EH9 3HJ ,
- 7South African Astronomical Observatories , Observatory, Cape Town 7925 ,
- 8Leiden Observatory, Leiden University , PO Box 9513, NL-2300 RA Leiden ,
- 9Lorentz Institute for Theoretical Physics, Leiden University , PO box 9506, NL-2300 RA Leiden ,
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 3σ, while simulations with more powerful active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback within the FLAMINGO and BAHAMAS suites reproduce the observed kSZ signal within lt 2σ. 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.
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BibTeX
@article{bigwood2026kinetic,
title = {{The kinetic Sunyaev Zeldovich effect as a benchmark for AGN feedback models in hydrodynamical simulations: insights from DESI + ACT}},
author = {Leah Bigwood and M. Yamamoto and Jared Siegel and Alexandra Amon and Ian G. McCarthy and Romeel Davé and Jaime Salcido and Matthieu Schaller and Joop Schaye and Tianyi Yang},
journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1093/mnras/stag1314},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag1314},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The kinetic Sunyaev Zeldovich effect as a benchmark for AGN feedback models in hydrodynamical simulations: insights from DESI + ACT
AU - Leah Bigwood
AU - M. Yamamoto
AU - Jared Siegel
AU - Alexandra Amon
AU - Ian G. McCarthy
AU - Romeel Davé
AU - Jaime Salcido
AU - Matthieu Schaller
AU - Joop Schaye
AU - Tianyi Yang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/10
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stag1314
UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag1314
AB - 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 3σ, while simulations with more powerful active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback within the FLAMINGO and BAHAMAS suites reproduce the observed kSZ signal within lt 2σ. 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.
SN - 0035-8711
SN - 1365-2966
SN - 1365-8711
ER -