Cosmological Parameters from the X-Ray Evolution of Clusters

Extract

This poster paper presents an extension of the entropy-driven model of cluster evolution developed by Bower, 1997 (MN, 288, 355) in order to study the evolution of clusters in a low density universe. Our approach allows us to explicitly seperate the contributions from gravitational collapse and changes in the core entropy of the intracluster gas. Here, we apply the model to determine whether a preferred value of Ω₀ is selected by currently available constraints (Figure 1). Measurements of the X-ray evolution of clusters cannot, by themselves, select out a particular cosmological model. An additional constraint on the effective power spectrum index (n) is required. This can either come from a measurement of the large-scale galaxy correlation function or from the shape of the present-day temperature function. A theoretical calculation of the Ω₀ dependence of the power spectrum does not help break the inherent degeneracy.