Measuring the scatter of the mass-richness relation in galaxy clusters in photometric imaging surveys by means of their correlation function

The knowledge of the scatter in the mass-observable relation is a key ingredient for a cosmological analysis based on galaxy clusters in a photometric survey. We demonstrate here how the linear bias measured in the correlation function for clusters can be used to determine the value of the scatter. The new method is tested in simulations of a 5, 000 deg optical survey up to z ∼ 1, similar to the ongoing Dark Energy Survey. The results indicate that the scatter can be measured with a precision of 5% using this technique. Subject headings: cosmology: observations-cosmology-galaxies: clusters: generallarge-scale structure of universe