We present Sunyaev-Zel ’ dovich Effect ( SZE ) imaging observations of three distant ( z > 0.8 ) and highly X-ray luminous clusters of galaxies , Cl J1226.9+3332 , Cl J0152.7 - 1357 and MS 1054.4 - 0321 .
Two of the clusters , Cl J1226.9+3332 and Cl J0152.7 - 1357 , were recently discovered in deep ROSAT x-ray images .
Their high X-ray luminosity suggests that they are massive systems which , if confirmed , would provide strong constraints on the cosmological parameters of structure formation models .
Our Sunyaev-Zel ’ dovich Effect data provide confirmation that they are massive clusters similar to the well studied cluster MS 1054.4 - 0321 .
Assuming the clusters have the same gas mass fraction as that derived from SZE measurements of eighteen known massive clusters , we are able to infer their mass and electron temperature from the SZE data .
The derived electron temperatures are 9.8 ^ { +4.7 } _ { -1.9 } , 8.7 ^ { +4.1 } _ { -1.8 } , and 10.4 ^ { +5.0 } _ { -2.0 } keV , respectively , and we infer total masses of \sim 2 \times 10 ^ { 14 } h ^ { -1 } _ { 100 } M _ { \odot } within a radius of 65″ ( 340 h _ { 100 } ^ { -1 } kpc ) for all three clusters .
For Cl J0152.7 - 1357 and MS 1054.4 - 0321 we find good agreement between our SZE derived temperatures and those inferred from X-ray spectroscopy .
No X-ray derived temperatures are available for Cl J1226.9+3332 , and thus the SZE data provide the first confirmation that it is indeed a massive system .
The demonstrated ability to determine cluster temperatures and masses from SZE observations without access to X-ray data illustrates the power of using deep SZE surveys to probe the distant universe .