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G.P. Holder, J.E. Carlstrom, J.J. Mohr (U. Chicago)
Very massive clusters are very rare and very luminous. Exactly how rare has been used to put strong constraints on cosmology. Not-so-massive clusters are not-so-rare and not-so-luminous, but their evolution as a function of redshift holds just as much cosmological information as the very rare clusters, with the added advantage of having a large number of objects to study. Upcoming SZ surveys will have the sensitivity to overcome the problem of the not-so-rare being not-so-luminous, potentially providing a large catalog of high-redshift clusters, selected in a uniform way.
We quantify this using a Press-Schechter prescription to model the redshift evolution of the number density of clusters and both N-body+gas simulations and simple models for the evolution of the intra-cluster medium. Upgrades to the existing cm-wave systems at the OVRO and BIMA arrays will provide the sensitivity to find tens of clusters per square degree for the currently fashionable cosmological model with \Omegamatter=0.3 and \Omega\Lambda=0.7. This will provide a unique catalog of high-redshift clusters, allowing detailed studies of both cosmology and evolution of the intra-cluster medium. Along the way, of course, a few of the very rare and very massive clusters will be found, allowing them to be better understood as part of a larger family.
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