Cosmological constraints with clusters of galaxies

Abstract

This Ph.D. Thesis is devoted to the derivation of cosmological constraints by using clusters of galaxies as probes. Clusters of galaxies provide potentially powerful means to measure the growth of cosmic structures, as well as excellent astrophysical laboratories. As such they have played an important role in establishing the current cosmological paradigm. On one hand, the results presented in this Thesis provide cosmological constraints from the best X-ray surveys of distant galaxy clusters available at present. On the other hand, the techniques developed to forecast constraints from future survey represent a flexible tool to optimize the design of future surveys of galaxy clusters to shed light on the content of the "Dark Sector" of the Universe and on the nature of gravity.