Non-thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect in Giant Lobes of Radio Galaxies - A new window in Secondary CMB Anisotropies

The secondary CMB anisotropies are a powerful probe of the expansion history of the Universe, its contents and growth of structures, and the rich baryonic physics since the epoch of the last scattering to the present time. The physics of these anisotropies are less understood than the primary CMB anisotropies - they are typically weaker than the primary and at smaller angular scales. However, one of the main goals of all current and future CMB observations is towards discovering and understanding these secondaries. Almost all secondary anisotropies proposed and observed till now fall roughly under the so-called thermal and kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE).  

We discuss the `non-thermal' SZE and show that it opens up a new window to our Universe and apply it to radio galaxy cocoons. Especially, the energetic electrons in the lobes of radio galaxies make them potential sources for not only radio and X-rays but also non-thermal SZE.  We identify and propose specific sources that SZE observations can target, and also calculate the CMB rms-fluctuations at small angular scales due to these new sources of CMB distortions. The implications for this novel CMB anisotropy are many folds, from cosmology to BH-physics -  detecting them will help us constrain radio galaxy physics, the energetics of cosmic non-thermal electrons, the AGN-halo connection, better error analysis of galaxy cluster thermal SZE and cosmological parameters, etc. At the least, the non-thermal SZE is a completely new addition to the zoo of secondary CMB anisotropies.