Mass Dependent Bias in the Local Universe

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Professor Miller and his group will study the spatial distribution of galaxy clusters, paying specific attention to the bias of cluster-sized dark matter halos. Such a bias results from massive dark matter halos forming within the largest fluctuations in the primordial matter density field. This induces a correlation between the halo mass and the amplitude of the clustering itself. Observational constraints on bias are a prerequisite to high precision cosmology using galaxy clusters. The program will publish a sample of approximately 1000 clusters with measured masses and well characterized errors.Broader impacts of the work include training of a graduate student, building tutorials for web-based astronomy tools which lead non-specialists through some of the greatest astronomical discoveries, allowing non-scientists to discover for themselves the fundamental laws of the Universe.