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Abstract

Galaxy clusters are the largest and most massive objects in the universe. Observing and studying them unlocks answers to broad cosmological questions, such as the matter content and its distribution in the universe, as well as more specific astrophysical topics regarding the nature of physics within the intracluster medium (ICM). One method to probe clusters is by observing them at millimeter wavelengths via the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect, which results from the interaction of hot electrons in the ICM with Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) photons. To address expansive questions ranging from cosmological to astrophysical, clusters must be observed at angular scales from arcminutes down to arcseconds. This necessitates multiple instruments: a sensitive arcminute-resolution wide-field survey to discover clusters and provide high fidelity on arcminute scales; and an arcsecond-resolution instrument for efficient high-resolution follow-up. This combination can build statistics and extract as much information as possible from each cluster. To that end, I present two complementary instruments, the Simons Observatory (SO) Large Aperture Telescope (LAT) and the TolTEC camera on the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT). Together, these instruments will probe clusters from arcminute to arcsecond scales, unlocking cosmological information about dark matter and dark energy, as well as illuminating astrophysical processes within clusters such as shocks from mergers and feedback mechanisms in the ICM. I present an overview of these instruments and then focus on my contributions. These include metamaterial anti-reflection (AR) coatings fabricated for the refracting optics of the SO LAT and TolTEC, maximum likelihood mapmaking techniques that have been implemented in the TolTEC data reduction pipeline, early images from the TolTEC camera's 2022 commissioning observations, and conclude with forecasts for upcoming cluster observations with the SO LAT and the TolTEC camera.

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