References & Citations
Astrophysics
Title: Tracing the Universe with Clusters of Galaxies
(Submitted on 7 Nov 1997 (v1), last revised 9 Nov 1997 (this version, v2))
Abstract: Clusters of galaxies, the most massive virialized systems known, provide a powerful tool for studying the structure, the mass density, and the cosmology of our universe. Clusters furnish one of the best estimates of the dynamical mass density parameter on 1 Mpc scale, $\Omega_{dyn}$; the best measure of the baryon density fraction in the universe; an excellent tracer of the large-scale structure of the universe; and, most recently, a powerful tracer of the evolution of structure in the universe and its unique cosmological implications. I review the above measures and show that they portray a consistent picture of the universe and place stringent constraints on cosmology. Each of these independent measures suggests a low-density universe, $\Omega_{m}$ $\simeq $ 0.3 $\pm $ 0.1, with mass approximately tracing light on large scales.
Submission history
From: Neta Bahcall [view email][v1] Fri, 7 Nov 1997 02:26:27 GMT (45kb)
[v2] Sun, 9 Nov 1997 22:02:01 GMT (45kb)