The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey: SZ effect Verification with the Atacama Compact Array -- Localization and Cluster Analysis

The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey (MaDCoWS) provides a catalog of high-redshift ($0.7\lesssim z\lesssim 1.5$) infrared-selected galaxy clusters. However, the verification of the ionized intracluster medium, indicative of a collapsed and nearly virialized system, is made challenging by the high redshifts of the sample members. The main goal of this work is to test the capabilities of the Atacama Compact Array (ACA; also known as the Morita Array) Band 3 observations, centered at about 97.5 GHz, to provide robust validation of cluster detections via the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect. Using a pilot sample that comprises ten MaDCoWS galaxy clusters, accessible to ACA and representative of the median sample richness, we infer the masses of the selected galaxy clusters and respective detection significance by means of a Bayesian analysis of the interferometric data. Our test of the "Verification with the ACA - Localization and Cluster Analysis" (VACA LoCA) program demonstrates that the ACA can robustly confirm the presence of the virialized intracluster medium in galaxy clusters previously identified in full-sky surveys. In particular, we obtain a significant detection of the SZ effect for seven out of the ten VACA LoCA clusters. We note that this result is independent of the assumed pressure profile. However, the limited angular dynamic range of the ACA in Band 3 alone, short observational integration times, and possible contamination from unresolved sources limit the detailed characterization of the cluster properties and the inference of the cluster masses within scales appropriate for the robust calibration of mass-richness scaling relations.Comment: 19 pages (including appendices), 14 figures, and 4 tables; accepted for publication in A&

The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey: MOO J1142+1527, a 10^(15) M_⊙ Galaxy Cluster at z = 1.19

We present confirmation of the cluster MOO J1142+1527, a massive galaxy cluster discovered as part of the Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey. The cluster is confirmed to lie at z = 1.19, and using the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy we robustly detect the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) decrement at 13.2σ. The SZ data imply a mass of M_(200m) = (1.1 ± 0.2) × 10^(15)M_⊙, making MOO J1142+1527 the most massive galaxy cluster known at z > 1.15 and the second most massive cluster known at z > 1. For a standard ΛCDM cosmology it is further expected to be one of the ~5 most massive clusters expected to exist at z ≥ 1.19 over the entire sky. Our ongoing Spitzer program targeting ~1750 additional candidate clusters will identify comparably rich galaxy clusters over the full extragalactic sky

The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey. I. Survey Overview and a Catalog of >2000 Galaxy Clusters at z ≃ 1

We present the Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey (MaDCoWS), a search for galaxy clusters at 0.7 less than or similar to z less than or similar to 1.5 based upon data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission. MaDCoWS is the first cluster survey capable of discovering massive clusters at these redshifts over the full extragalactic sky. The search is divided into two regions-the region of the extragalactic sky covered by Pan-STARRS (delta > - 30 degrees) and the remainder of the southern extragalactic sky at delta < -30 degrees for which shallower optical data from the SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey is available. In this paper, we describe the search algorithm, characterize the sample, and present the first MaDCoWS data release-catalogs of the 2433 highest amplitude detections in the WISE-Pan-STARRS region and the 250 highest amplitude detections in the WISE-SuperCOSMOS region. A total of 1723 of the detections from the WISE-Pan-STARRS sample have also been observed with the Spitzer Space Telescope, providing photometric redshifts and richnesses, and an additional 64 detections within the WISE-SuperCOSMOS region also have photometric redshifts and richnesses. Spectroscopic redshifts for 38 MaDCoWS clusters with IRAC photometry demonstrate that the photometric redshifts have an uncertainty of sigma(z)/(1 + z) similar or equal to 0.036. Combining the richness measurements with Sunyaev-Zel'dovich observations of MaDCoWS clusters, we also present a preliminary mass-richness relation that can be used to infer the approximate mass distribution of the full sample. The estimated median mass for the WISE-Pan-STARRS catalog is M-500 = 1.6(-0.8)(+0.7) x 10(14) M-circle dot, with the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich data confirming that we detect clusters with masses up to M-500 similar to 5 x 10(14) M-circle dot (M-200 similar to 10(15) M-circle dot).NASA through the NASA Astrophysical Data Analysis Program [NNX12AE15G]; NASA [PID 90177, PID 11080]; Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations [HST-GO-14456]; Pan-STARRS Project Office; Max Planck Society; Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics; National Central University of Taiwan; Space Telescope Science Institute; National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NNX08AR22G]; NASA Science Mission Directorate; National Science Foundation; University of Maryland, and Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE); Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation; James S. McDonnell Foundation; University of Chicago; CARMA partner universities; Gemini Observatory; W. M. Keck Observatory; University of Florida; National Research Council; CONICYT; National Aeronautic and Space Administration through the agency's scientific partnership; University of California; W. M. Keck Foundation; U.S. Department of Energy; U.S. National Science Foundation; Ministry of Science and Education of Spain; Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom; Higher Education Funding Council for England; National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics at the Ohio State University; Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas A& M University, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos; Fundacao Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; Collaborating Institutions in the Dark Energy SurveyThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]