Galaxy Cluster Virial Masses and Omega

Abstract

To re-examine the rich cluster $\Omega$ value the CNOC Cluster Survey has observed 16 high X-ray luminosity clusters in the redshift range 0.17 to 0.55, obtaining approximately 2600 velocities in their fields. Directly adding all the K and evolution corrected $r$ band light to $M_r(0)=-18.5$, about $0.2L_\ast$, and correcting for the light below the limit, the average mass-to-light ratio of the clusters is $283\pm27h\msun/\lsun$ and the average mass per galaxy is $3.5\pm0.4\times10^{12}h^{-1}\msun$. The clusters are consistent with having a universal $M_v/L$ value (within the errors of about 20\%) independent of their velocity dispersion, mean color of their galaxies, blue galaxy content, redshift, or mean interior density. Using field galaxies within the same data set, with the same corrections, we find that the closure mass-to-light, $\rho_c/j$, is $1160\pm130h\msun/\lsun$ and the closure mass per galaxy, $\rho_c/\phi(>0.2L_\ast)$, is $13.2\pm1.9\times10^{12}h^{-1}\msun$. Under the assumptions that the galaxies are distributed like the mass and that the galaxy luminosities and numbers are statistically conserved, which these data indirectly support, $\Omega_0=0.20\pm0.04\pm0.09$ where the errors are, respectively, the $1\sigma$ internal and an estimate of the $1\sigma$ systematic error resulting from the luminosity normalization.