Measurement of the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect with Planck and BOSS data

We present a new measurement of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (kSZ) using Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) and Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) data. Using the "LowZ North/South" galaxy catalogue from BOSS DR12, and the group catalogue from BOSS DR13, we evaluate the mean pairwise kSZ temperature associated with BOSS galaxies. We construct a "Central Galaxies Catalogue" (CGC) which consists of isolated galaxies from the original BOSS data set, and apply the aperture photometry (AP) filter to suppress the primary CMB contribution. By constructing a halo model to fit the pairwise kSZ function, we constrain the mean optical depth to be τ-=(0.53±0.32)×10-4(1.65σ) for LowZ North CGC, τ-=(0.30±0.57)×10-4(0.53σ) for LowZ South CGC, and τ-=(0.43±0.28)×10-4(1.53σ) for DR13 Group. In addition, we vary the radius of the AP filter and find that the AP size of 7 arcmin gives the maximum detection for τ-. We also investigate the dependence of the signal with halo mass and find τ-=(0.32±0.36)×10-4(0.8σ) and τ-=(0.67±0.46)×10-4(1.4σ) for DR13 Group with halo mass restricted to, respectively, less and greater than its median halo mass, 1012 h-1M⊙. For the LowZ North CGC sample restricted to Mh≳1014 h-1M⊙ there is no detection of the kSZ signal because these high mass halos are associated with the high-redshift galaxies of the LowZ North catalogue, which have limited contribution to the pairwise kSZ signals.