nodejs using cluster.setupMaster, send an object as argv

I've have just dived into NodeJS and I'm reading on taking advantage of all CPU's cores and spawning the process among all the available resources.

It seems like a pretty interesting topic, and I'm testing it right now. But I have a question concerning the argv object key in the cluster settings.

I'm starting the server by using this script :

var path = require("path"),
    colors = require("colors");

var cluster = require('cluster'),
    os = require('os'),
    cores = os.cpus();

/*

var config = require(path.join(__dirname, 'config.json'));

*/

/*
 * Start Server
*/

cluster.setupMaster({

    exec : path.join(__dirname, "application.js"),
    args : ["--environment", "dev"]
});

if (cluster.isMaster) {

    for (var i = cores.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {

        cluster.fork();
    };

    cluster.on("fork", function(worker) {

        console.log("Worker : [ %d ][ Status : Forking ]".cyan, worker.process.pid);
    });

    cluster.on("online", function(worker) {

        console.log("Worker : [ %d ][ Status : Online ]".green, worker.process.pid);
    });

    cluster.on("listening", function(worker, address) {

        console.log("Worker : [ %d ][ Status : Listening ][ Address : %s ][ Port : %d ]".yellow, worker.process.pid, address.address, address.port);
    });

    cluster.on("disconnect", function(worker) {

        console.log("Worker : [ %d ][ Status : Disconnected ]".white, worker.process.pid);
    });


    /*
     * Restart Dead Workers
    */

    cluster.on("exit", function(worker, code, signal) {

        console.log("Worker : [ %d ][ Status : Exit ][ Signal : %s ][ Code : %s ]".red, worker.process.pid, signal, code);

        cluster.fork();
    });

} else {

};

The above would be my server.js, which when run, as stated in the exec, starts off the application :

var express = require("express"),
    http = require('http'),
    path = require("path"),
    optimist = require("optimist"),
    colors = require("colors"),
    recess = require("recess");

var application = module.exports = express(),
    config = optimist.argv;

console.log(config);

var routes = require(path.join(__dirname, "routes")),
    api = require(path.join(__dirname, "routes", "api"));

application.set('view engine', 'jade');
application.set('views', path.join(__dirname, 'views'));

application.configure(function(){

    application.use(express.bodyParser());
    application.use(express.methodOverride());

    application.use("/assets", express.static(path.join(__dirname, "public")));

    application.use(express.logger('dev'));

    application.use(application.router);
});

application.configure('development', function(){

    application.use(express.errorHandler({

        dumpExceptions: true,
        showStack: true
    }));
});

application.configure('production', function(){

    application.use(express.errorHandler());
});


/*
 * JSON API
*/

application.get('/api/test', api.test);


/*
 * Routing
*/

application.get('/', routes.index);
application.get('/partials/:name', routes.partials);

application.get('*', routes.index);

/*
 * Start Server
*/

var server = http.createServer(application).listen(process.env.PORT);

So firstly, can I use argv to send an object as options to the application.js script ? If so how ? If not I guess I can only send simple options as I'm doing right now.

Secondly, and lastly, am I doing the syntax right ? Is it necessary to have something else in the if(cluster.isMaster) {} else {} ( I'm most interested in if there's anything needed in the else ) ? I'm sorry if the question seems a bit stupid, but I've just started a few days ago and I'm pretty eager to learn more about Node :)