MINKOWSKI FUNCTIONALS OF ABELL ACO CLUSTERS

We determine the Minkowski functionals for a sample of Abell/ACO clust ers, 401 with measured and 16 with estimated redshifts. The four Minko wski functionals (including the void probability function and the mean genus) deliver a global description of the spatial distribution of cl usters on scales from 10 to 60 h(-1) Mpc with a clear geometric interp retation. Comparisons with mock catalogues of N-body simulations using different variants of the CDM model demonstrate the discriminative po wer of the description. The standard CDM model and the model with a ti lted perturbation spectrum cannot generate the Minkowski functionals o f the cluster data, while a model with a cosmological constant and a m odel with breaking of the scale invariance of perturbations (BSI) yiel d compatible results.