Description
We describe the first optical survey of absorption systems associated with cluster galaxies at z=0.3-0.9. We have cross-correlated quasars from the third data release of the SDSS (Cat. VII/243) with high-redshift cluster/group candidates from the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey (Cat. J/ApJS/157/1). We have found 442 quasar-cluster pairs for which the MgII{lambda}2796, 2803 doublet might be detected at a transverse (physical) distance d<2h^-1^_71_Mpc from the cluster centers. To investigate the incidence dN/dz and equivalent width distribution n(W) of MgII systems at cluster redshifts, two statistical samples were drawn out of these pairs: one made of high-resolution spectroscopic quasar observations (46 pairs), and one made of quasars used in MgII searches found in the literature (375 pairs).
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