Optical/Infrared Survey of Galaxy Clusters

Luiz da Costa, S. Arnouts, S. Bardelli, C. Benoist, A. Biviano, S. Borgani, W. Boschin, T. Erben, M. Girardi, H. E. Jorgensen, L. F. Olsen, M. Ramella, M. Schirmer, P. Schneider, M. Scodeggio, E. Zucca

Published 2000-12-12Version 1

In this contribution the ongoing effort to build a statistical sample of clusters of galaxies over a wide range of redshifts to study the evolution of clusters and member galaxies is reviewed. The starting point for this project has been the list of candidate clusters identified from the I-band EIS-WIDE survey data. Since the completion of this survey, new optical/infrared observations have become available and have been used to confirm some of these candidates using the photometric data alone or in combination with the results of follow-up spectroscopic observations. Our preliminary results show that the yield of real physical associations from the original catalog is conservatively >60% and that a large sample of clusters in the southern hemisphere, extending to high-redshifts, is within reach.