Infall Regions and Scaling Relations of X-ray Selected Groups

We use the Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to study X-ray-selected galaxy groups and compare their properties to clusters. We search for infall patterns around the groups and use these to measure group mass profiles to large radii. In previous work, we analyzed infall patterns for an X-ray-selected sample of 72 clusters from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey. Here, we extend this approach to a sample of systems with smaller X-ray fluxes selected from the 400 Square Degree serendipitous survey of clusters and groups in ROSAT pointed observations. We identify 16 groups with SDSS DR5 spectroscopy, search for infall patterns, and compute mass profiles out to 2-6 Mpc from the group centers with the caustic technique. No other mass estimation methods are currently available at such large radii for these low-mass groups, because the virial estimate requires dynamical equilibrium and the gravitational lensing signal is too weak. Despite the small masses of these groups, most display recognizable infall patterns. We use caustic and virial mass estimates to measure the scaling relations between different observables, extending these relations to smaller fluxes and luminosities than many previous surveys. Close inspection reveals that three of the groups are subclusters in the outskirts of larger clusters. A fourth group is apparently undergoing a group-group merger. These four merging groups represent the most extreme outliers in the scaling relations. Excluding these groups, we find $L_X\propto\sigma_p^{3.4\pm1.6}$, consistent with previous determinations for both clusters and groups. Understanding cluster and group scaling relations is crucial for measuring cosmological parameters from clusters.Comment: published in AJ Feb 2010, significantly revised in response to referee report, title edite

Searching for Standard Clocks in the Primordial Universe

Classically oscillating massive fields can be used as "standard clocks" in the primordial universe. They generate features in primordial density perturbations that directly record the scale factor evolution a(t). Detecting and measuring these "fingerprint" signals is challenging but would provide a direct evidence for a specific primordial universe paradigm. In this paper, such a search is performed for the power spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies using the WMAP7 data. Although a good fit to the data privileges a scale around k=0.01 Mpc^(-1), we do not find statistical significance for, neither against, the presence of any feature. We then forecast the expected constraints a Planck-like CMB experiment can impose on the fingerprint parameters by using Markov-Chain-Monte-Carlo (MCMC) methods on mock data. We exhibit a high sensitivity zone for wavenumbers ranging from 0.01 Mpc^(-1) to 0.1 Mpc^(-1) in which fingerprints show up first on the posterior probability distribution of the wavenumber at which they occur, and then on the modulation frequency. Within the sensitivity zone, we show that the inflationary paradigm can be inferred from a single feature generating at least a 20% modulation of the primordial power spectrum. This minimal value sensitively depends on the modulation frequency.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures, uses jcappub. References added, matches published versio