Cosmology with Clusters of Galaxies

Princeton University, Princeton NJ

Investigators

Abstract

AST-0407305 Bahcall Clusters of galaxies, the most massive virialized objects in the universe, provide one of the most powerful tools in the study of cosmology. Clusters provide efficient tracers of the large-scale structure of the universe, and have placed some of the tightest constraints on cosmological parameters. Systematic studies of clusters are currently limited by the lack of large area, accurate, complete, and objectively selected catalogs of optical clusters: this research will use the comprehensive Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to improve this situation. The resultant well-calibrated catalog will be the largest of its kind by an order of magnitude, and will be made generally available. It will then be used to study the cluster mass function and its evolution, and the richness-dependent cluster correlation function and its evolution. This project provides exceptional educational and outreach opportunities: not only will the work be carried out mostly with graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral fellows, with a significant fraction being female, but the catalog will be made easily available. It will be used by the astronomical community for years to come, by planetaria and science museums, and by schools, the media, and the general public.