8th HEAD Meeting, 8-11 September, 2004
Session 1 Galaxy Clusters and the Intergalactic Medium
Oral, Wednesday, September 8, 2004, 9:00-10:30am

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[1.06] Precision Cosmology with Clusters of Galaxies: Insights from Numerical Simulations

P. M. Motl (Louisiana State University), J. O. Burns (University of Colorado), M. L. Norman (University of California, San Diego)

Clusters of galaxies have emerged as powerful and complementary probes in contemporary cosmology. However, the simplifying assumptions used to interpret cluster observations (spherical symmetry, isothermality, hydrostatic equilibrium, etc.) are approximations that are valid to only a certain level. Especially in the new era of precision cosmology, where efforts are underway to investigate the nature and evolution of dark energy, it is crucial to calibrate the approximations used to reduce observations of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect or X-ray emission in clusters of galaxies. We use high-resolution, cosmological, adaptive mesh refinement simulations to quantify the limiting accuracy and potential bias imposed by common assumptions for observables such as the gravitating mass of clusters and the Hubble constant.


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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: motl@casa.colorado.edu

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.