Virtual Cluster Exploratory (VCE) will enable researchers to access libraries of simulated clusters and perform mock observations and other investigations using a suite of analysis tools. The Exploratory will enable detailed study of simulated clusters both in 3D and in projection (i.e., real-space and redshift-space).

What type of data will be available?
Data products from gas dynamic simulations will include

• spectrally-resolved X-ray images,
• Sunyaev-Zel'dovich images,
• projected total mass maps,
• line-of-sight and projected velocity maps,
• bulk quantities: redshift, ICM mass, total mass, mass-weighted temperature, peculiar velocity, etc. within characteristic radii (r2500, r500, r200)
• radially averaged profiles: density, temperature, luminosity, velocity and velocity dispersion, etc. for ICM and dark matter
• merger history,
• cluster spatial and velocity orientation,
• raw simulation output: list of particle/cell locations, velocities, thermodynamic properties, etc.

• Individual cluster studies. Given a target redshift and temperature, select among best possible matches in available libraries, then generate mock images and/or extract relevant intrinsic cluster properties from the available data products.
• Deep sky images. Create patches of virtual sky, selected randomly or by a target object, by populating dark matter sky survey samples with emission from corresponding gas dynamic simulations. Such fields can be used to probe the purity and completeness of cluster finding algorithms as well as to investigate confusion effects arising from redshift-space projection. (Cluster samples from dark matter sky surveys to z~1.5 are published as electronic tables in Evrard etal 2002, ApJ, 573, 7).
• Statistical surveys. Extract collections of data for samples limited in a variety of ways; e.g., by mass, temperature, or X-ray flux.

Is the full text of the proposal available?
Yes, the four-page proposal is available in PDF or POSTSCRIPT versions.
FIRST SURVEY RESULTS