Surveys of Galaxy Clusters with the Sunyaev Zel'dovich Effect

Abstract

We have created mock Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) surveys of galaxy clusters using high resolution N-body simulations. To the pure surveys we add `noise' contributions appropriate to instrument and primary CMB anisotropies. Applying various cluster finding strategies to these mock surveys we generate catalogues which can be compared to the known positions and masses of the clusters in the simulations. We thus show that the completeness and efficiency that can be achieved depend strongly on the frequency coverage, noise and beam characteristics of the instruments, as well as on the candidate threshold. We study the effects of matched filtering techniques on completeness, and bias. We suggest a gentler filtering method than matched filtering in single frequency analyses. We summarize the complications that arise when analyzing the SZE signal at a single frequency, and assess the limitations of such an analysis. Our results suggest that some sophistication is required when searching for `clusters' within an SZE map.