Galaxy clusters are ideal witnesses of the cosmic large-scale evolution, and excellent laboratories to study the physics of the hot plasma that contains the bulk of the baryonic matter in the universe. Our APEX-SZ survey project presented the first published scientific results from observations with a large array of multiplexed, superconducting, transition edge sensors, and continues to produce unprecedented scientific data. In three observing runs since its commissioning in Spring 2007, we have mapped more than ten galaxy clusters, encompassing a wide range in mass and redshift, and obtained deep imaging data on selected “blank” fields. We have been focusing on a combined SZE-X-ray analysis to model the intra-cluster gas physics, and we have been pursuing multi-frequency imaging observations to study structure and to investigate SZE contaminants such as starburst and radio galaxies. We request continued funding for the three central German members of our international collaboration, in order to strongly pursue our research on the properties and evolution of galaxy clusters, on the physics of the hot intra-cluster gas, and on the cluster mass scaling relations, which are the crucial basis for cluster cosmology surveys.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
