Related papers: Making the observational parsimonious richness a w…
We present detailed simulations of long exposure CCD images. The simulations are used to explore the validity of the statistical method for reconstructing the luminosity distribution of galaxies within a rich cluster i.e. by the subtraction…
To study how the environment can influence the relation between stellar mass and effective radius of nearby galaxies (z < 0.12), we use a mass-complete sample extracted from the NYU-Value Added Catalogue. This sample contains almost 232000…
The main systematics in cluster cosmology is the uncertainty in the mass-observable relation. In this paper, we focus on the most direct cluster observable in optical surveys, i.e. richness, and constrain the intrinsic mass-richness (MR)…
We study the relationship between the field star formation and cluster formation properties in a large sample of nearby dwarf galaxies. We use optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope and from ground-based telescopes to derive the ages…
The exponential sensitivity of cluster number counts to the properties of the dark energy implies a comparable sensitivity to not only the mean but also the actual_distribution_ of an observable mass proxy given the true cluster mass. For…
We simulate the assembly of a massive rich cluster and the formation of its constituent galaxies in a flat, low-density universe. Our most accurate model follows the collapse, the star-formation history and the orbital motion of all…
The surface mass density of a cluster of galaxies, and thus its total mass, can be estimated from its lens magnification. The magnification can be determined from the variation in number counts of its background galaxies. In the weak…
Weak gravitational lensing has been used extensively in the past decade to constrain the masses of galaxy clusters, and is the most promising observational technique for providing the mass calibration necessary for precision cosmology with…
Using a non-parametric procedure developed by Kaiser \& Squires (1993), we analyse the statistical image distortions of faint field galaxies to $I\ls25.5$ in two distant X-ray luminous clusters 1455+22 ($z_{cl}=0.26$) and 0016+16…
A multi-object spectroscopy follow-up survey of galaxy clusters selected from the Red-sequence Cluster Survey (RCS) is being completed. About forty clusters were chosen with redshifts from 0.15 to 0.6, and in a wide range of richnesses. One…
The distribution of galaxies in position and velocity around the centers of galaxy clusters encodes important information about cluster mass and structure. Using the maxBCG galaxy cluster catalog identified from imaging data obtained in the…
We present an optical analysis of a sample of 11 clusters built from the EXCPRES sample of X-ray selected clusters at intermediate redshift (z ~ 0.5). With a careful selection of the background galaxies we provide the mass maps…
We investigate the dependence of cluster abundance $n(>M,r_{cl})$, i.e., the number density of clusters with mass larger than $M$ within radius $r_{cl}$, on scale parameter $r_{cl}$. Using numerical simulations of clusters in the CDM…
We have reanalyzed a data set of 99 low redshift ($ z < 0.1 $) Abell clusters and determined their shapes. For this, three different measures are used. We use Monte-Carlo simulations to investigate the errors in the methods. The corrected…
The mass of a cluster of galaxies can be estimated from its lens magnification, which can be determined from the variation in number counts of background galaxies. In order to derive the mass one needs to make assumptions for the lens…
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…
Using Spitzer 3.6 micron data we derived the luminosity function and the mass function of galaxies in five z>1.4 clusters selected to have a firm intracluster medium detection. The five clusters differ in richness (ISCSJ1438.1+3414 and…
The cosmological utility of galaxy cluster catalogues is primarily limited by our ability to calibrate the relation between halo mass and observable mass proxies such as cluster richness, X-ray luminosity or the Sunyaev-Zeldovich signal.…
We introduce a novel method to measure the masses of galaxy clusters at high redshift selected from optical and IR Spitzer data via the red-sequence technique. Lyman-break galaxies are used as a well understood, high-redshift background…
We study a sample of 19 galaxy clusters in the redshift range $0.15<z<0.30$ with highly complete spectroscopic membership catalogues (to $K < K^{\ast}(\rm z)+1.5$) from the Arizona Cluster Redshift Survey (ACReS); individual weak-lensing…