"SZ spectroscopy" in the coming decade: Galaxy cluster cosmology and
  astrophysics in the submillimeter
  Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effects were first proposed in the 1970s as tools to
identify the X-ray emitting hot gas inside massive clusters of galaxies and
obtain their velocities relative to the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Yet
it is only within the last decade that they have begun to significantly impact
astronomical research. Thanks to the rapid developments in CMB instrumentation,
measurement of the dominant thermal signature of the SZ effects has become a
routine tool to find and characterize large samples of galaxy clusters and to
seek deeper understanding of several important astrophysical processes via
high-resolution imaging studies of many targets. With the notable exception of
the Planck satellite and a few combinations of ground-based observatories, much
of this "SZ revolution" has happened in the photometric mode, where
observations are made at one or two frequencies in the millimeter regime to
maximize the cluster detection significance and minimize the foregrounds.
Still, there is much more to learn from detailed and systematic analyses of the
SZ spectra across multiple wavelengths, specifically in the submillimeter (>300
GHz) domain. The goal of this Science White Paper is to highlight this
particular aspect of SZ research, point out what new and potentially
groundbreaking insights can be obtained from these studies, and emphasize why
the coming decade can be a golden era for SZ spectral measurements.
