SPTSZGALCL - South Pole Telescope-Sunyarv-Zel'dovich (SPT-SZ) Survey Catalog

Overview

This table contains a catalog of galaxy clusters selected via their Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect signature from 2500 deg² of South Pole Telescope (SPT) data. This work represents the complete sample of clusters detected at high significance in the 2500 deg² SPT-SZ survey, which was completed in 2011. A total of 677 (409) cluster candidates are identified above a signal-to-noise threshold xi of 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 xi > 4.5 candidates and 387 (or 95%) of the xi > 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. The authors estimate photometric redshifts for all candidates with identified optical and/or NIR counterparts; they 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_500c(rho_crit) ~ 3.5x10¹⁴ M_sun h₇₀^-1, the median redshift is z_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.

The South Pole Telescope (SPT) is a 10m diameter telescope located at the National Science Foundation Amundsen-Scott South Pole station in Antarctica. From 2008 to 2011 the telescope was used to conduct the SPT-SZ survey, a survey of ~ 2500 deg² of the southern sky at 95, 150, and 220 GHz. The survey covers a contiguous region from 20h to 7h in Right Ascension and -65 to -40 degrees in Declination (see, e.g., Figure 1 in Story et al. 2013, ApJ, 779, 86) and was mapped to depths of approximately 40, 18, and 70 microK-arcmin at 95, 150, and 220 GHz, respectively.

The authors use optical and in some cases NIR imaging (Blanco Telescope, Magellan/Baade, Magellan/Clay, Swope, MPG/ESO, New Technology Telescope, Spitzer, WISE) to confirm candidates as clusters and to obtain redshifts for confirmed systems (see section 4 of the reference paper for more details). They have also used a variety of facilities to obtain spectroscopic observations of the SPT clusters (including VLT/FORS2 & Gemini/GMOS-S).

This HEASARC table contains the total of 677 cluster candidates which were identified above a signal-to-noise threshold of xi = 4.5 in the 2500 deg² SPT-SZ survey.

Catalog Bibcode

2015ApJS..216...27B

References

Galaxy clusters discovered via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in the
2500-square-degree SPT-SZ survey.
    Bleem L.E., Stalder B., de Haan T., Aird K.A., Allen S.W., Applegate D.E.,
    Ashby M.L.N., Bautz M., Bayliss M., Benson B.A., Bocquet S., Brodwin M.,
    Carlstrom J.E., Chang C.L., Chiu I., Cho H.M., Clocchiatti A.,
    Crawford T.M., Crites A.T., Desai S., Dietrich J.P., Dobbs M.A.,
    Foley R.J., Forman W.R., George E.M., Gladders M.D., Gonzalez A.H.,
    Halverson N.W., Hennig C., Hoekstra H., Holder G.P., Holzapfel W.L.,
    Hrubes J.D., Jones C., Keisler R., Knox L., Lee A.T., Leitch E.M., Liu J.,
    Lueker M., Luong-Van D., Mantz A., Marrone D.P., McDonald M., McMahon J.J.,
    Meyer S.S., Mocanu L., Mohr J.J., Murray S.S., Padin S., Pryke C.,
    Reichardt C.L., Rest A., Ruel J., Ruhl J.E., Saliwanchik B.R., Saro A.,
    Sayre J.T., Schaffer K.K., Schrabback T., Shirokoff E., Song J.,
    Spieler H.G., Stanford S.A., Staniszewski Z., Stark A.A., Story K.T.,
    Stubbs C.W., Vanderlinde K., Vieira J.D., Vikhlinin A., Williamson R.,
    Zahn O., Zenteno A.
   <Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser., 216, 27 (2015)>
   =2015ApJS..216...27B    (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)

Provenance

This table was created by the HEASARC in March 2015 based on an electronic version of Table 4 from the reference paper which was obtained from the CDS as their catalog J/ApJS/216/27 file table4.dat.

Parameters

Name
The SPT SZ galaxy cluster candidate source name, being a J2000.0 position-based source designation registered with the CDS Dictionary of Nomenclature of Celestial Objects, viz., 'SPT-CL JHHMM+DDMM', where the prefix stands for 'South Polar Telescope - Cluster'.

Source_Flag
This flag parameter is set to 'C' to indicate that the cluster has X-ray data from the Chandra satellite that are used in the cosmological analysis presented in T. de Haan et al. (in preparation).

RA
The Right Ascension of the galaxy cluster candidate in the selected equinox. This was given in J2000 decimal degrees to a precision of 10^-4 degrees in the original table.

Dec
The Declination of the galaxy cluster candidate in the selected equinox. This was given in J2000 decimal degrees to a precision of 10^-4 degrees in the original table.

LII
The Galactic Longitude of the galaxy cluster candidate.

BII
The Galactic Latitude of the galaxy cluster candidate.

Best_Significance
The highest detection significance, xi, in the filtered map.

Best_Core_Radius
The best core radius theta_c, in arcminutes, corresponding to the detection (see Section 3 of the reference paper).

Int_SZ_Compton
The integrated Sunyaev-Zel'dovich comptonization Y_SZ caused by the galaxy cluster candidate within a 0.75 arcminute aperture, in arcminute², as defined in Section 3.2 of the reference paper.

Int_SZ_Compton_Error
The uncertainty in the integrated Sunyaev-Zel'dovich comptonization Y_SZ caused by the galaxy cluster candidate within a 0.75 arcminute aperture, in arcminute².

Redshift_Limit
This parameter is set to '>' or '>=' if the quoted redshift is a lower limit to the actual redshift (for unconfirmed systems).

Redshift
The redshift of the galaxy cluster candidate. Values are given for conformed systems (except for the three highest-redshift systems; see Section 5.3 of the reference paper) or a redshift lower limit for unconfirmed systems (see Section 4). Spectroscopic redshifts (those entries with redshift_note = 'S') are quoted without uncertainties, which are typically ~ 0.1% (e.g., Ruel et al. 2014, ApJ, 792, 45).

Redshift_Error
The uncertainty in the redshift of the galaxy cluster candidate (not given for spectroscopic redshift values).

Redshift_Note
This flag parameter is set to 'S' to indicate that the redshift of the galaxy cluster candidate is derived from SPT follow-up observations.

Mass_500c
The mass of the galaxy cluster candidate (in solar masses times h₇₀^-1) enclosed within a radius at which the average density is 500 times the critical density at the cluster redshift for a fixed flat LambdaCDM cosmology. (See Section 6.1 of the reference paper for full details.)

Mass_500c_Error
The uncertainty in the mass of the galaxy cluster candidate (in solar masses times h₇₀^-1) enclosed within a radius at which the average density is 500 times the critical density at the cluster redshift for a fixed flat LambdaCDM cosmology.

Imaging_Notes
This parameter contains notes on the imaging of the galaxy cluster candidate, coded as follows:

      1 = Bright star impedes confirmation.
      2 = Possibly biased SZ-center owing to cluster's proximity to the edge of
          the cluster map; additional cluster offset 1.8 arcmin at z ~ 0.55.
      3 = Foreground group at z ~ 0.3.
      4 = Foreground group to N at z ~ 0.35.
      5 = Foreground group at z ~ 0.1.
      6 = Group z ~ 0.2 centered 3 arcmin away from SPT center.
      7 = Small group z ~ 0.4 offset 2 arcmin to N.
      8 = Low-z group z ~ 0.1.
      9 = Very complex region; optical group on NW z~0.4 and another group
          on SW z ~ 0.65. Confirmed in S12 by 1 method at z = 0.38 +/- 0.04.
     10 = Bimodal redshift solution; additional solution z = 0.29.
     11 = High stellar density.
     12 = Foreground group at z ~ 0.15.
     13 = Bimodal redshift solution; additional solution z = 0.41.
     14 = Group on SW z ~ 0.4.
     15 = System z ~ 0.3 offset 2 arcmin to S.
     16 = Possibly biased SZ-center owing to cluster's proximity to the
          edge of the cluster map.
     17 = The mass is biased low by a factor of ~1.5 times owing to contamination
          from a magnified high-redshift dusty star forming galaxy;
          see Section 6.4.3 and discussion in Anderson et al. 2011ApJ, 738, 48).
     18 = Low-z group at z ~ 0.15 >3 arcmin from SPT center.

Other_Notes
This parameter contains additional notes on the galaxy cluster candidate, with numerical codes as specified for the imaging_notes parameter and the following additional alphabetical codes:

      a = Strong-Lensing Cluster;
      b = Cluster masses at low significance are only approximate;
          see Section 6.1 of the reference paper.
      c = Cluster masses at low redshift (z < 0.25) may be
          underestimated; see Section 6.1.
      d = Confirmed, high-redshift cluster (see Section 5.3).

Contact Person

Questions regarding the SPTSZGALCL database table can be addressed to the HEASARC Help Desk.

Page Author: Browse Software Development Team
Last Modified: Monday, 16-Sep-2024 17:35:16 EDT