Date of Award
2014
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Physics
Committee Chair
Massimiliano Bonamente
Committee Member
John Fix
Committee Member
Richard Lieu
Committee Member
Robert Preece
Committee Member
Martin Weisskopf
Subject(s)
Galaxies--Clusters., X-ray astronomy.
Abstract
A powerful method for investigating cosmology is to observe the evolution of clusters over time, accomplished through analysis of cluster properties over a range of redshifts. One important property to examine is the cluster mass function, i.e., the number density of clusters of a given mass at a given redshift range. Studies of the evolution of the cluster mass function over redshift ranges are used for obtaining cosmological constraints. To expand our mass knowledge to higher redshifts, a robust method for determining cluster masses utilizing radio data is desired. Presented within this dissertation are measurements of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect (SZE) of a sample of 32 galaxy clusters observed with the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Array, an interferometric array at the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy observatory. The sample is selected from the most luminous galaxy clusters in the ROSAT Bright Cluster Sample in the redshift range 0.15 > z > 0.3. The data are analyzed using a method that makes use of the virial theorem to measure masses directly from the SZE observations. We show that masses can be accurately estimated from the SZE data alone, provided the availability of an average gas mass fraction that can be calibrated separately from X-ray observations. This method is therefore an alternative to mass-observable scaling relations to measure dynamical masses directly from SZE observations.
Recommended Citation
Lindley, Ashley E., "Determination of galaxy cluster masses via Sunyaev-Zelʹdovich effect observations" (2014). Dissertations. 56.
https://louis.uah.edu/uah-dissertations/56