A measurement of the integrated Sachs–Wolfe effect with the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey

Abstract

ABSTRACT The evolution of the gravitational potentials on large scales due to the accelerated expansion of the Universe is an important and independent probe of dark energy, known as the integrated Sachs–Wolfe (ISW) effect. We measure this ISW effect through cross-correlating the cosmic microwave background maps from the Planck satellite with a radio continuum galaxy distribution map from the recent Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS). We detect a positive cross-correlation at $\sim 2.8\, \sigma$ relative to the null hypothesis of no correlation. We parametrize the strength of the ISW effect through an amplitude parameter and find the constraints to be $A_{\mathrm{ISW}} = 0.94^{+0.42}_{-0.41}$, which is consistent with the prediction of an accelerating universe within the current concordance cosmological model, ΛCDM. The credible interval on this parameter is independent of the different bias models and redshift distributions that were considered when marginalizing over the nuisance parameters. We also detect a power excess in the galaxy autocorrelation angular power spectrum on large scales (ℓ ≤ 40), and investigate possible systematic causes.