The Las Campanas/AAT Rich Cluster Survey

Abstract

Some unsolved cosmological questions remain in relation to the formation of structure in the universe. One way of addressing such questions is to use rich galaxy clusters as tracers of the growth of large-scale structure. To date, studies of rich clusters of galaxies have concentrated on systems generally at either high redshift or in the local universe. The properties of clusters and their constituent galaxies at these extrema are becoming well understood. In particular, it is becoming clear that rich clusters have undergone considerable evolution both dynamically and in their galaxy populations over the last 5-8 Gyr. We are undertaking a detailed study of rich clusters of galaxies in the range 0.05 <~ z <~ 0.15. Our results will be directly comparable to those of previous studies both at high and low redshift and, for the first time, provide continuous coverage across this important and unexplored transitory epoch in terms of galaxy evolution and structure growth.