Fundamental properties of galaxy clusters: A prelude to large scale Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect/near-IR cluster surveys

Within the context of precision cosmology, the systematics of a cluster survey must be carefully controlled and understood. These require knowledge of the selection function of the clusters, the sample variance, the sources of contamination, and evolution of clusters. For surveys aiming to study the nature of the dark energy that drives the accelerating expansion of the Universe, probing the redshift range z = 1--2 is essential. This can be most efficiently carried out by a Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) survey supplemented with near-IR follow-up observations. The cluster sample with SZE+near-IR data will also provide an excellent opportunity for understanding the galaxy population evolution in clusters.; This dissertation is developed under the two themes central to such a survey, i.e. the control of systematics, and the nature and evolution of cluster galaxy populations. For the first part, we conduct an analysis of a deep SZE survey and offer careful considerations for determining the survey mass sensitivity and for extracting cosmological constraints. In addition, because the radio-loud AGNs can potentially contaminate the cluster SZE signal, we investigate the radio properties of cluster AGNs to facilitate modeling their effects on the survey yields.; The second thrust of the dissertation is a systematic survey of the near-IR properties of cluster galaxies. With a large nearby cluster sample that spans a wide range in mass, we study scaling relations between the total galaxy luminosity or number and the cluster binding mass. The origins of such correlations are discussed in terms of a variation of star formation efficiency with cluster mass, various dynamical processes that affect galaxy evolution, and the hierarchical formation of structure. We proceed to study the properties of various cluster components, including the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) and the stars and gas that exist within the intracluster space. Constraints on BCG formation and the thermodynamic history of the intracluster medium are presented. Finally, with deep near-IR imaging data, we examine in detail the luminosity function for a smaller cluster sample, which extends to z ∼ 1. We confirm the existence of the scaling relations found in nearby clusters, and determine their evolution with redshift.