Collaborative Research: The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey 2

这个项目是佛罗里达大学和密苏里大学堪萨斯城分校之间的一个合作项目，旨在寻找遥远宇宙中的星系团和原星系团，回到第一个星系团形成的时间。调查数据将允许对宇宙中最大的星系在它们快速成长时进行详细的研究。该计划是基于NASA的广域红外巡天探测器（WISE）创建的目录，WISE是一个基于太空的天文台，可以进行全天的红外巡天。将WISE的数据与智利布兰科望远镜上的暗能量相机（DECam）的目录相结合，将使研究小组能够确定宇宙三维体积中第一批星团的形成位置。这项技术已经经过了测试，并正确地识别了来自IRAC遥远星团调查的已知星团。该项目还包括两个机构的联合虚拟公众观看夜间节目，利用罗斯玛丽山天文台的远程观测。该计划使公众能够在大流行期间参与，并将扩大疫情后两州公众观察项目的覆盖面。该项目将产生一个程序，以探测和表征在10480平方英尺0.5z2的大质量星系团人口。度。这个被提议的项目，即WISE大质量和遥远星系团调查2 (MaDCoWS2)，建立在同一个团队之前成功的星系团调查的基础上，该调查主要关注z~1的星系团。MaDCoWS2项目产生的星团样本将使我们能够详细研究自恒星形成高峰期和快速质量聚集时期以来，在最密集的环境中大质量星系的演化。通过将红移基线扩展到z = 2，该项目将进入原星团的时代，在这个时代，第一个大质量星团刚刚形成，并嵌入到更大规模的原星团环境中，这些环境由密集的细丝和稍后将被中心星团吸积的质量较小的星团组成。该计划的基础是CatWISE，这是一个利用NASA宽视场红外勘测探测器（WISE） 3.4和4.6微米数据的全深度创建深度目录的计划。将使用大型暗能量相机（DECam）的光学光度测量数据和CatWISE2020目录的WISE光度测量数据相结合，计算CatWISE2020星系样本的贝叶斯光度红移概率分布，然后使用PZWav代码检测3D数据立方体内的群集尺度过密度。这些项目将促进参与该项目的学生的职业发展。这项研究将由外展计划加以补充。该团队将在他们的机构发起并运行一个联合虚拟公共夜间项目，利用罗斯玛丽山天文台的远程观测。该计划使公众能够在大流行期间参与，并将扩大疫情后两州公众观察项目的覆盖面。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project is a collaborative project between the University of Florida and the University of Missouri Kansas City to search for galaxy clusters and protoclusters in the distant Universe, back to the time when the first clusters were forming. The survey data will allow for detailed studies of the most massive galaxies in the universe at the time when they were rapidly growing. The program is based upon catalogs created by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), a space-based observatory that performed an all-sky survey in the infrared. Combining the WISE data with catalogs from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Blanco telescope in Chile will allow the team to determine where the first clusters are forming in a 3D volume of the universe. The technique has already been tested and has correctly identified known clusters from the IRAC Distant Cluster Survey. The project also includes a joint virtual public viewing night program at both institutions using remote observing from the Rosemary Hill Observatory. This plan enables public engagement during the pandemic and will expand the reach of public observing programs in both states post-covid. This project will result in a program to detect and characterize the massive galaxy cluster population at 0.5z2 over 10,480 sq. degrees. The proposed program, the Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey 2 (MaDCoWS2) builds upon a successful previous cluster survey by the same team, which focused upon galaxy clusters at z~1. The cluster sample resulting from the MaDCoWS2 program will enable detailed investigations of the evolution of massive galaxies in the most overdense environments since the epoch of peak star formation and rapid mass assembly. By extending the redshift baseline to z = 2, the project will reach into the era of protoclusters, in which the first massive clusters are just forming and embedded in larger scale protocluster environments comprised of dense filaments and less massive groups that will be accreted by the central clusters at later times. The foundation for this program is CatWISE, a program to create deep catalogs exploiting the full depth of NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) data at 3.4 and 4.6 microns. A combination of optical photometry will be used from large Dark Energy Camera (DECam) data and WISE photometry from the CatWISE2020 catalog to compute Bayesian photometric redshift probability distributions for the CatWISE2020 galaxy sample, and then the PZWav code will be used to detect cluster scale overdensities within a 3D data cube. The PIs will foster the career development of the students working on this project. This research will be complemented by the outreach programs. The team will initiate and run a joint virtual public night program at their institutions using remote observing from the Rosemary Hill Observatory. This plan enables public engagement during the pandemic and will expand the reach of public observing programs in both states post-covid.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.