The Las Campanas Distant Cluster Survey: The Catalog

Abstract

We present an optically selected catalog of 1073 galaxy cluster and group candidates at 0.3 [ z [ 1. These candidates are drawn from the Las Campanas Distant Clusters Survey (LCDCS), a drift-scan imaging survey of a 130 square degree strip of the southern sky. To construct this catalog we utilize a novel detection process in which clusters are detected as positive surface brightness Ñuctuations in the background sky. This approach permits us to Ðnd clusters with signiÐcantly shallower data than other matched-Ðlter methods that are based upon number counts of resolved galaxies. Selection criteria for the survey are fully automated so that this sample constitutes a well-deÐned, homogeneous sample that can be used to address issues of cluster evolution and cosmology. Estimated redshifts are derived for the entire sample, and an observed correlation between surface brightness and velocity dispersion, p, is used to estimate the limiting velocity dispersion of the survey as a function of redshift. We Ðnd a net surface density of 15.5 candidates per square degree at with a false-detection rate of D30%. At z D 0.3 z est º 0.3, we probe down to the level of poor groups while by z D 0.8 we detect only the most massive systems km s~1). We also present a supplemental catalog of 112 candidates that fail one or more of (p Z 1000 the automated selection criteria, but appear from visual inspection to be bona Ðde clusters.

Observational probes of cosmic acceleration

“…Photometric cluster catalogs hail back as far as the original Abell (1958) catalog, which contained upwards of 2500 systems and served as the primary basis of cluster studies for decades. Though many recent photometric catalogs have focused on narrow but deep survey data (z 1, e.g., Gonzalez et al, 2001;Gladders and Yee, 2005; Note. -All cluster catalogs included above are drawn from ROSAT data, except for XCS, which is a serendipitous cluster search in XMM-Newton archival data (see Mehrtens et al, 2012, for the first data release).…”

The galaxy stellar mass function and its evolution with time show no dependence on global environment

“…A&A 550, A58 (2013) These clusters were selected from the Las Campanas Distant Cluster Survey (LCDCS) catalog (Gonzalez et al 2001). For all 20 fields deep optical multiband photometry obtained with FORS2/VLT (White et al 2005) and near-IR photometry obtained with SOFI/NTT is available.…”

The Heidelberg InfraRed Optical Cluster Survey (HIROCS)

“…The absolute B-band magnitude 1 of an L*-galaxy was also extrapolated from COMBO-17 (Bell et al 2004) as M B = −22 mag . We used our own exposure time calculator, integrating the photon flux and exploiting our knowledge of instrumental efficiencies and atmospheric properties (HITRAN 2005). The aim of HIROCS of detecting a galaxy 1 mag fainter than L* to a redshift of 1.5 thus determined the limiting magnitudes given in Table 1.…”

“…It is clearly important to detect clusters at redshifts as high as possible. To continue these searches to higher redshift, optical surveys have been performed over the last decade: PDCS (Postman et al 1996), EIS (Scodeggio et al 1999), TRCS (Gladders & Yee 2000), LCDCS (Gonzalez et al 2001), and MUNICS (Drory et al 2001). None of these surveys has, however, identified a significant sample of clusters with redshifts well beyond 1 (for a summary see Ramella et al 2000), because only optical and not infrared data (exception Drory et al 2001) were available, and at z = 1.5 the 4000 Å-break, the most important diagnostic feature, is shifted beyond the CCD bandpass into the near-infrared wavelength range.…”