THE APM CLUSTER SURVEY: CLUSTER DETECTION AND LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE

The APM Cluster Survey was based on a modification of Abell's original classification scheme for galaxy clusters. Here we discuss the results of an investigation of the stability of the statistical properties of the cluster catalogue to changes in the selection parameters. For a poor choice of selection parameters we find clear indications of line-of-sight clusters, but there is a wide range of input parameters for which the statistical properties of the catalogue are stable. We conclude that clusters selected in this way are indeed useful as tracers of large-scale structure.