An Improved Cluster Richness Estimator

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dc.creatorRozo, Eduardo
dc.creatorRykoff, Eli S.
dc.creatorKoester, Benjamin P.
dc.creatorMcKay, Timothy
dc.creatorHao, Jiangang
dc.creatorEvrard, August
dc.creatorWechsler, Risa H.
dc.creatorHansen, Sarah
dc.creatorSheldon, Erin
dc.creatorJohnston, David
dc.creatorBecker, Matthew
dc.creatorAnnis, James
dc.creatorBleem, Lindsey
dc.creatorScranton, Ryan
dc.date2008-09-16
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T10:03:26Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T10:03:26Z
dc.descriptionMinimizing the scatter between cluster mass and accessible observables is an important goal for cluster cosmology. In this work, we introduce a new matched filter richness estimator, and test its performance using the maxBCG cluster catalog. Our new estimator significantly reduces the variance in the L_X-richness relation, from σ_{\ln L_X}^2=(0.86\pm0.02)^2 to σ_{\ln L_X}^2=(0.69\pm0.02)^2. Relative to the maxBCG richness estimate, it also removes the strong redshift dependence of the richness scaling relations, and is significantly more robust to photometric and redshift errors. These improvements are largely due to our more sophisticated treatment of galaxy color data. We also demonstrate the scatter in the L_X-richness relation depends on the aperture used to estimate cluster richness, and introduce a novel approach for optimizing said aperture which can be easily generalized to other mass tracers.
dc.description12 pages, 5 figures, submitted to ApJ
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0809.2797
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0809.2797
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/169289
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleAn Improved Cluster Richness Estimator
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