The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Catalog of > 4000 Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Galaxy Clusters

• Published in: arXiv.org 2020-12
• Main Authors: Hilton, M, Sifón, C, Madhavacheril, M, Oguri, M, Rykoff, E, Abbott, T M C, Adhikari, S, Aiola, S, Allam, S, Amodeo, S, Beall, J A, Becker, D T, Bernstein, G M, Bond, J R, Brooks, D, Burke, D L, Calabrese, E, Carretero, J, Conselice, C, da Costa, L N, Costanzi, M, Denison, E V, Devlin, M J, Dicker, S R, Diehl, H T, Dietrich, J P, Doel, P, Duivenvoorden, A J, Everett, S, Ferraro, S, Ferrero, I, Ferté, A, Flaugher, B, Gallardo, P A, García-Bellido, J, Gaztanaga, E, Gerdes, D W, Golec, J E, Gralla, M B, Grandis, S, Gruen, D, Gruendl, R A, Gschwend, J, Gutierrez, G, Han, D, Hartley, W G, Hill, J C, Hilton, G C, Hincks, A D, Ho, S-P P, Hoyle, B, Huffenberger, K M, Hughes, J P, Jaelani, A T, James, D J, Jeltema, T, Kent, S, M Carrasco Kind, Knowles, K, Koopman, B J, Kuehn, K, Lahav, O, Lima, M, Y-T, Lin, MacCrann, N, Marriage, T A, McMahon, J, Melchior, P, Miyatake, H, Moodley, K, Morgan, R, Mroczkowski, T, Nati, F, Newburgh, L B, Niemack, M D, Ogando, R L C, Paz-Chinchón, F, Phakathi, P, Plazas, A A, Robertson, N C, Romer, A K, A Carnero Rosell, Salatino, M, Schillaci, A, Sehgal, N, Serrano, S, Simon, S M, Smith, M, Soares-Santos, M, Staggs, S T, Suchyta, E, Tarle, G, Thomas, D, Trac, H, Ullom, J N, Vale, L R, J Van Lanen, De Vicente, J, Wollack, E J, Z Xu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cosmology; Dark energy; Galactic clusters; Galactic evolution; Matched filters; Red shift; Signal to noise ratio; Sky surveys (astronomy); Star & galaxy formation; Star formation
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2009.11043

We present a catalog of 4195 optically confirmed Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) selected galaxy clusters detected with signal-to-noise > 4 in 13,211 deg\(^2\) of sky surveyed by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). Cluster candidates were selected by applying a multi-frequency matched filter to 98 and 150 GHz maps constructed from ACT observations obtained from 2008-2018, and confirmed using deep, wide-area optical surveys. The clusters span the redshift range 0.04 < z < 1.91 (median z = 0.52). The catalog contains 222 z > 1 clusters, and a total of 868 systems are new discoveries. Assuming an SZ-signal vs. mass scaling relation calibrated from X-ray observations, the sample has a 90% completeness mass limit of M500c > 3.8 x 10\(^{14}\) MSun, evaluated at z = 0.5, for clusters detected at signal-to-noise ratio > 5 in maps filtered at an angular scale of 2.4'. The survey has a large overlap with deep optical weak-lensing surveys that are being used to calibrate the SZ-signal mass-scaling relation, such as the Dark Energy Survey (4566 deg\(^2\)), the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (469 deg\(^2\)), and the Kilo Degree Survey (825 deg\(^2\)). We highlight some noteworthy objects in the sample, including potentially projected systems; clusters with strong lensing features; clusters with active central galaxies or star formation; and systems of multiple clusters that may be physically associated. The cluster catalog will be a useful resource for future cosmological analyses, and studying the evolution of the intracluster medium and galaxies in massive clusters over the past 10 Gyr.