Abstract:

As observational tracers of the most massive structures in the Universe, clusters of galaxies are a key component of many present and future astrophysical experiments. The combination of greater than 10,000 MaxBCG clusters and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has enabled robust measurements of the average properties of galaxy clusters, as well as the development of a framework for designing future experiments. In this talk, I describe recent results derived from the SDSS and the MaxBCG catalog, including dynamical cluster masses, lensing and x-ray derived masses, measurements of the average properties of cluster galaxies, and cosmological constraints.