On a novel approach using massive clusters at high redshifts as cosmological probe

Details On a novel approach using massive clusters at high redshifts as cosmological probe On a novel approach using massive clusters at high redshifts as cosmological probe

2011-05-20

arxiv.org/abs/1105.4099v2

Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.418:456-466,2011

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics

11 pages, 13 figures, 1 Table, MNRAS accepted version

Scientific paper

10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.19496.x

In this work we propose a novel method for testing the validity of the fiducial LCDM cosmology by measuring the cumulative distribution function of the most massive haloes in a sample of subvolumes of identical size tiled on the sky at a fixed redshift. The fact that the most massive clusters probe the high-mass tail of the mass function, where the difference between LCDM and alternative cosmological models is strongest, makes our method particularly interesting as a cosmological probe. We utilise general extreme value statistics (GEV) to obtain a cumulative distribution function of the most massive objects in a given volume. We sample this distribution function according to the number of patches covered by the survey area for a range of different "test cosmologies" and for differently accurate mass estimations of the haloes. By fitting this sample with the GEV distribution function, we can study which parameters are the most sensitive with respect to the test cosmologies. We find that the peak of the probability distribution function of the most massive halo is well suited to test the validity of the fiducial LCDM model, once we are able to establish a sufficiently complete large-area survey with M_lim=10^14.5 M_sun/h (M_lim=10^14 M_sun/h) at redshifts above z=1 (z=1.5). Being of cumulative nature the proposed measure is robust and an accuracy of 20-30% in the cluster masses would be sufficient to test for alternative models. Since one only needs the most massive system in each angular patch, this method would be ideally suited as a first fast consistency check before going into a more complex statistical analysis of the observed halo sample.

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