An Improved Cluster Richness Estimator

Details An Improved Cluster Richness Estimator An Improved Cluster Richness Estimator

2008-09-16

arxiv.org/abs/0809.2797v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

12 pages, 5 figures, submitted to ApJ

Scientific paper

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 catalog. Our new estimator significantly reduces the variance in the L_X-richness relation, from \sigma_{\ln L_X}^2=(0.86\pm0.02)^2 to \sigma_{\ln L_X}^2=(0.69\pm0.02)^2. Relative to the maxBCG richness estimate, it also removes the strong redshift dependence of the richness scaling relations, and is significantly more robust to photometric and redshift errors. These improvements are largely due to our more sophisticated treatment of galaxy color data. We also demonstrate the scatter in the L_X-richness relation depends on the aperture used to estimate cluster richness, and introduce a novel approach for optimizing said aperture which can be easily generalized to other mass tracers.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

An Improved Cluster Richness Estimator does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with An Improved Cluster Richness Estimator, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and An Improved Cluster Richness Estimator will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-660793