Using the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect to Probe the Gas in Clusters

The thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect is an important probe of clusters of galaxies, and has the attractive property of being proportional to the thermal energy content of the intracluster medium. With the assistance of X-ray data, the effect can be used to measure the number of hot electrons in clusters, and thus measure cluster baryon contents. Cluster absolute distances and other structural parameters can also be measured by combining thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich, X-ray, and other data. This review presents an introduction to the effect, shows some representative results, and sketches imminent developments.