skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: A GMBCG galaxy cluster catalog of 55,880 rich clusters from SDSS DR7

Journal Article ·
OSTI ID:986987

We present a large catalog of optically selected galaxy clusters from the application of a new Gaussian Mixture Brightest Cluster Galaxy (GMBCG) algorithm to SDSS Data Release 7 data. The algorithm detects clusters by identifying the red sequence plus Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG) feature, which is unique for galaxy clusters and does not exist among field galaxies. Red sequence clustering in color space is detected using an Error Corrected Gaussian Mixture Model. We run GMBCG on 8240 square degrees of photometric data from SDSS DR7 to assemble the largest ever optical galaxy cluster catalog, consisting of over 55,000 rich clusters across the redshift range from 0.1 < z < 0.55. We present Monte Carlo tests of completeness and purity and perform cross-matching with X-ray clusters and with the maxBCG sample at low redshift. These tests indicate high completeness and purity across the full redshift range for clusters with 15 or more members.

Research Organization:
Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-07CH11359
OSTI ID:
986987
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-PUB-10-287-A; TRN: US201018%%200
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

A GMBCG GALAXY CLUSTER CATALOG OF 55,424 RICH CLUSTERS FROM SDSS DR7
Journal Article · Wed Dec 15 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series · OSTI ID:986987

A GMBCG Galaxy Cluster Catalog of 55,424 Rich Clusters from SDSS DR7
Journal Article · Mon Aug 22 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophys.J.Suppl.191:254-274,2010 · OSTI ID:986987

AN OPTICAL CATALOG OF GALAXY CLUSTERS OBTAINED FROM AN ADAPTIVE MATCHED FILTER FINDER APPLIED TO SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY DATA RELEASE 6
Journal Article · Wed Jul 20 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophysical Journal · OSTI ID:986987