A MEASUREMENT OF THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND DAMPING TAIL FROM THE 2500-SQUARE-DEGREE SPT-SZ SURVEY

We present a measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature power spectrum using data from the recently completed South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SPT-SZ) survey. We report CMB temperature anisotropy power over the multipole range 650 < l < 3000. We fit the SPT bandpowers, combined with the 7 yr Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP7) data, with a six-parameter ACDM cosmological model and find that the two datasets are consistent and well fit by the model. Adding SPT measurements significantly improves ACDM parameter constraints; in particular, the constraint on [theta] sub(s) tightens by a factor of 2.7. The impact of gravitational lensing is detected at 8.1[sigma], the most significant detection to date. These new constraints on n sub(s) and r have significant implications for our understanding of inflation, which we discuss in the context of selected single-field inflation models.