Résumé :
The spectral and spatial characteristics of the signature
imprinted on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation
by Compton scattering of the radiation by electrons (in the
hot gas) in clusters of galaxies - the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (S-Z)
effect - serve as indispensable cosmological probes. The effect,
essentially a redshift-independent CMB image of a cluster, has
been measured in many clusters by single dish and interferometric
arrays. Current measurement capability, accurate theoretical
description, and realistic modeling of intracluster gas, have
significantly advanced use of the effect as a precise probe to
determine cluster and cosmological parameters. I will review
recent theoretical progress and some of the observational
results, and will outline the great prospects from extensive
surveys that will soon be carried out by many S-Z projects.
