GALAXY CLUSTERS DISCOVERED VIA THE SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH EFFECT IN THE 2500-SQUARE-DEGREE SPT-SZ SURVEY

Journal Article · Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0067-0049/216/2/27· OSTI ID:22340096

Bleem, L. E.; Carlstrom, J. E.; Chang, C. L. ^[1]; Stalder, B.; Ashby, M. L. N.; Bayliss, M. ^[2]; De Haan, T. ^[3]; Aird, K. A. ^[4]; Allen, S. W. ^[5]; Applegate, D. E. ^[6]; Bautz, M. ^[7]; Benson, B. A.; Crawford, T. M.; Crites, A. T. ^[8]; Bocquet, S.; Chiu, I.; Desai, S. ^[9]; Brodwin, M. ^[10]; Cho, H. M. ^[11]; Clocchiatti, A. ^[12] ; others, and

---

1. Argonne National Laboratory, High-Energy Physics Division, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439 (United States)
2. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
3. Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 Rue University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2T8 (Canada)
4. University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)
5. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University, 452 Lomita Mall, Stanford, CA 94305 (United States)
6. Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Auf dem Hügel 71, D-53121 Bonn (Germany)
7. Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
8. Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States)
9. Department of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Scheinerstr. 1, D-81679 München (Germany)
10. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, 5110 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO 64110 (United States)
11. NIST Quantum Devices Group, 325 Broadway Mailcode 817.03, Boulder, CO 80305 (United States)
12. Departamento de Astronomia y Astrosifica, Pontificia Universidad Catolica (Chile)

We present a catalog of galaxy clusters selected via their Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect signature from 2500 deg{sup 2} of South Pole Telescope (SPT) data. This work represents the complete sample of clusters detected at high significance in the 2500 deg{sup 2} SPT-SZ survey, which was completed in 2011. A total of 677 (409) cluster candidates are identified above a signal-to-noise threshold of ξ = 4.5 (5.0). Ground- and space-based optical and near-infrared (NIR) imaging confirms overdensities of similarly colored galaxies in the direction of 516 (or 76%) of the ξ > 4.5 candidates and 387 (or 95%) of the ξ > 5 candidates; the measured purity is consistent with expectations from simulations. Of these confirmed clusters, 415 were first identified in SPT data, including 251 new discoveries reported in this work. We estimate photometric redshifts for all candidates with identified optical and/or NIR counterparts; we additionally report redshifts derived from spectroscopic observations for 141 of these systems. The mass threshold of the catalog is roughly independent of redshift above z ∼ 0.25 leading to a sample of massive clusters that extends to high redshift. The median mass of the sample is M {sub 500c}(ρ{sub crit}) ∼3.5×10{sup 14} M{sub ⊙} h{sub 70}{sup −1}, the median redshift is z {sub med} = 0.55, and the highest-redshift systems are at z > 1.4. The combination of large redshift extent, clean selection, and high typical mass makes this cluster sample of particular interest for cosmological analyses and studies of cluster formation and evolution.

• OSTI ID: 22340096
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series, Vol. 216, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0067-0049
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
CATALOGS
COLOR
GALACTIC EVOLUTION
GALAXIES
GALAXY CLUSTERS
INFRARED SURVEYS
NEAR INFRARED RADIATION
RED SHIFT
SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO
TELESCOPES
VISIBLE RADIATION