The red-sequence cluster survey: cosmology and galaxy cluster evolution

宇宙正在加速的发现迫使天文学家假设暗能量的存在。理解暗能量——宇宙中最主要也是最不为人所知的组成部分——是现代宇宙学中最重要的目标。在这个方向上的第一步是测量状态方程（这个神秘成分的压力和密度之比），用参数w封装。暗能量对宇宙的几何形状和星系和星系团等结构的生长速度产生微妙的影响。一些观测实验正在进行中，例如，利用超新星的距离，试图测量w。这是在天空上拍摄大片区域（1000平方英尺）的建议。deg)利用丰富的星系团（宇宙中质量最大的结构）的数量来推导w。观测将使用加拿大-法国-夏威夷望远镜上的大型马赛克CCD相机进行。1000平方英尺。deg的图像将提供约1亿个星系的数据，从中将发现约30000个星系团。该项目还将开展广泛的后续观测项目，以估计星团的质量，从而推导出星团的质量函数。通过估算宇宙中不同时期星系团的数量和质量，我们将能够约束各种宇宙学参数，包括w。这些后续项目也将使我们能够研究星系团的形成和演化。

The discovery that that the universe is accelerating forced astronomers to hypothesize the existence of dark energy.  Understanding dark energy, the most dominant and least understood component of the universe, is the single most important goal in modern cosmology.  A first step in this direction is to measure the equation of state (the ratio between the pressure and density of this mysterious component), encapsulated by the parameter w. Dark energy produces subtle effects on geometry of the universe and the rate of growth of structures such as galaxies and cluster of galaxies.  Several observational experiments are underway, e.g., using the distance of supernovae, to attempt to measure w.  This is proposal to image a large area on the sky (1000 sq. deg) to use the number of rich galaxy clusters, the most massive structure in the universe, to derive w.  The observation will be done using the large mosaic CCD camera on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.  The 1000 sq. deg. of images will provide data on ~100 million galaxies, from which about 30000 galaxy clusters will be discovered.  The project will also carry out extensive follow-up observational programs to estimate the mass of clusters in order to derive the mass function of the clusters.  By estimating the number of clusters and their masses during different epochs in the universe, we will be able to constrain various cosmological parameters, including w.  These follow-up programs will also allow us to study the formation and evolution of galaxy clusters.