Related papers: Mind the Gap: Tightening the Mass-Richness Relatio…
Imaging data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey is used to measure the empirical size-richness relation for a large sample of galaxy clusters. Using population subtraction methods, we determine the radius at which the cluster galaxy number…
The luminosity gap between the two brightest members of galaxy groups and clusters is thought to offer a strong test for the models of galaxy formation and evolution. This study focuses on the statistics of the luminosity gap in galaxy…
We study the luminosity gap, dm12, between the first and second ranked galaxies in a sample of 59 massive galaxy clusters, using data from the Hale Telescope, HST, Chandra, and Spitzer. We find that the dm12 distribution, p(dm12), is a…
We test the concordance LCDM cosmology by comparing predictions for the mean properties of galaxy clusters to observations. We use high-resolution N-body simulations of cosmic structure formation and semi-analytic models of galaxy formation…
The gap between first and second ranked galaxy magnitudes in groups is often considered a tracer of their merger histories, which in turn may affect galaxy properties, and also serves to test galaxy luminosity functions (LFs). We remeasure…
We report the results of a multi-waveband analysis of the masses and luminosities of $\sim$600 galaxy groups and clusters identified in the maxBCG catalogue. These data are intended to form the basis of future work on the formation of the…
Imaging data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey are used to characterize the population of galaxies in groups and clusters detected with the MaxBCG algorithm. We investigate the dependence of Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG) luminosity, and…
Minimizing the scatter between cluster mass and accessible observables is an important goal for cluster cosmology. In this work, we introduce a new matched filter richness estimator, and test its performance using the maxBCG cluster…
Robust galaxy cluster mass estimates are fundamental for constraining cosmological parameters from counts. For this reason, it is essential to search for tracers that, independent of the cluster's dynamical state, have a small intrinsic…
We develop an improved mass tracer for clusters of galaxies from optically observed parameters, and calibrate the mass relation using weak gravitational lensing measurements. We employ a sample of ~ 13,000 optically-selected clusters from…
Accurately determining the mass of galaxy clusters is fundamental for many studies on cosmology and galaxy evolution. We collect and rescale the cluster masses of 1191 clusters of 0.05<z<0.75 estimated by X-ray or Sunyaev-Zeldovich…
We study the mass-richness relation using galaxy catalogues and images from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We use two independent methods, in the first one, we calibrate the scaling relation with weak-lensing mass estimates. In the second…
The potential of using cluster clustering for calibrating the mass-observable relation of galaxy clusters has been recognized theoretically for over a decade. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of this technique to achieve high precision…
Richness, i.e., the number of bright cluster galaxies, is known to correlate with the cluster mass, however, to exploit it as mass proxy we need a way to estimate the aperture in which galaxies should be counted that minimizes the scatter…
We study the mass-to-light ratio of galaxy systems from poor groups to rich clusters, and present for the first time a large database for useful comparisons with theoretical predictions. We extend a previous work, where B_j band…
We use a sample of 53 galaxy clusters at 0.03 < z < 0.1 with available masses derived from the caustic technique and with velocity dispersions computed using 208 galaxies on average per cluster, in order to investigate the scaling between…
Maximizing the utility of upcoming photometric cluster surveys requires a thorough understanding of the richness-mass relation of galaxy clusters. We use Monte Carlo simulations to study the impact of various sources of observational…
In a recent preprint, Hearin et al. (2012,H12) suggest that the halo mass-richness calibration of clusters can be improved by using the difference in the magnitude of the brightest and the second brightest galaxy (magnitude gap) as an…
We use the abundance and weak lensing mass measurements of the SDSS maxBCG cluster catalog to simultaneously constrain cosmology and the richness--mass relation of the clusters. Assuming a flat \LambdaCDM cosmology, we find…
Accurate measurement of galaxy cluster masses is an essential component not only in studies of cluster physics, but also for probes of cosmology. However, different mass measurement techniques frequently yield discrepant results. The SDSS…