Proprietà ottiche degli ammassi di galassie simulati dal progetto MUSIC

Galaxy clusters are the most massive virialized objects in the Universe, so they constitute the best cosmological probe to measure the total matter content of the Universe. The measure of their masses, assuming General Relativity to be valid on these scales, implies the presence of dark matter which can only be detected by its gravitational effects. The formation and evolution of galaxy clusters can be studied with N-body/hydrodynamical numerical simulations. I studied the optical properties of the simulated galaxy clusters from two hydrodynamical simulations, Gadget-MUSIC and Gadget-X, both resim- ulated from MultiDark, a dark matter only N-body simulation. I studied the relation between mass and richness and the galaxy lumi- nosity functions; I also studied their dynamical state based on 2-D pro- jections of the simulated clusters. Our aim is to investigate if observable properties of clusters can be re- produced by simulated clusters. This approach can constrain both the cosmological model and the physical processes involved in the formation of clusters.