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B. Holden (U. of Chicago), C. Adami (Northwestern U.), R. Nichol (Carnegie Mellon U.), F. Castander (Obs. Midi-Pyrenees), A. Mazure (IGRAP Laboratoire d'Astronomie Spatiale), L Lubin (Cal. Tech.), M. Postman (STScI)
Using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, we have measured redshifts for 1000 galaxies in the direction of fifteen Palomar Distant Cluster Survey candidates (PDCS; Postman et. al. 1996). We selected this sample by observing the richest PDCS cluster candidates around an estimated redshift of 1/2. Of these fifteen observed candidates, ten are over-densities with velocity dispersions in the range of 500 - 1300 km s-1. Our finding that 66% of the PDCS cluster candidates are physically bound systems agrees with the results of Holden et. al. 1999, which studied clusters at a lower average redshift (zavg = 0.3). We will compare the velocity dispersion function and apparent mass function with both low redshift surveys, such as the ESO Nearby Abell Cluster Survey (ENACS), and high redshift cluster surveys such as the Canadian Network for Observational Cosmology (CNOC). The CNOC sample and our sample based on the PDCS will allow us to construct a mass function over an order magnitude in cluster mass at a redshift of 1/2. We can then compare this mass function with the ENACS sample to test predictions of the evolution of clusters of galaxies.
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