The Local Galaxy Cluster Mass Function of the Brightest Clusters in the Sky - I

Galaxy clusters have proven to be highly competitive and complementarycosmological probes. For the next major breakthrough more reliable massestimates and, therefore, a better understanding of cluster physics areessential. We propose to complete XMMNewton observations of a fluxlimitedsample of the 64 Xray brightest clusters in the sky to (i) take full advantageof virgul3 Ms of XMMNewton data already available, (ii) determine very precise gastemperature profiles, (iii) characterize merging clusters by direct comparisonto simulations, (iv) update the luminositymass relation, (v) construct the mostprecise local cluster mass function, (vi) improve constraints on OmegaM andsigma8 significantly, and (vii) provide a reliable statistical baseline for comparison to highredshift samples. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]