THE PALOMAR DISTANT CLUSTER SURVEY .2. THE CLUSTER PROFILES

We present a study of the surface density profiles of the clusters of galaxies from the Palomar Distant Cluster Survey (Postman et al. 1996) . The survey contains a total of 79 clusters of galaxies, covering the estimated redshift range of 0.2 less than or similar to z less than o r similar to 1.2. We have analyzed the richest clusters in this sample and find that the typical Palomar cluster has a surface density profi le of r(-1.4) (r greater than or equal to 0.10h(-1) Mpc) and a core ra dius of 0.05h(-1) Mpc. There may be an indication that the slope of th e surface density profile steepens with increasing redshift, though th e observational uncertainty is at present too large to be conclusive. Our cluster population is inconsistent at a 99.9% confidence level wit h a population of azimuthally symmetric clusters. (C) 1996 American As tronomical Society.