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

该项目是佛罗里达大学和密苏里州堪萨斯城大学之间的合作项目，旨在寻找遥远宇宙中的星系团和原星系团，追溯到第一个星系团形成的时候。调查数据将允许详细研究宇宙中最大的星系在它们迅速增长的时候。 该计划是基于美国宇航局的广域红外巡天探测器（WISE）创建的目录，WISE是一个在红外线上进行全天巡天的天基天文台。 将WISE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第一个星团在宇宙3D体积中的形成位置。 该技术已经过测试，并已正确识别出IRAC远距离聚类调查中的已知聚类。 该项目还包括一个联合的虚拟公众观看夜间节目在这两个机构使用远程观测从迷迭香山天文台。该计划使公众能够在大流行期间参与进来，并将在新冠肺炎后扩大这两个州的公众观察计划的覆盖范围。该项目将导致一个计划，以探测和表征大质量星系团人口在0.5z2超过10,480平方米。度拟议中的计划，WISE巡天2（MaDCoWS 2）的大规模和遥远的星系团建立在同一团队之前成功的星系团巡天的基础上，该巡天专注于z~1的星系团。来自MaDCoWS 2计划的星系团样本将能够详细研究自峰值星星形成和快速质量组装时代以来大质量星系在最过密环境中的演化。通过将红移基线扩展到z = 2，该项目将进入原星系团时代，其中第一个大质量星系团刚刚形成并嵌入由密集细丝和较小质量的群体组成的较大规模的原星系团环境中，这些群体将在稍后的时间被中心星系团吸积。 该计划的基础是CatWISE，这是一个利用NASA宽视场红外巡天探测器（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）数据和CatWISE 2020目录中的WISE光度学的组合来计算CatWISE 2020星系样本的贝叶斯光度学红移概率分布，然后将使用PZWav代码来检测3D数据立方体内的星系团尺度过密度。PI将促进参与该项目的学生的职业发展。这项研究将得到推广方案的补充。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，使用迷迭香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进来，并将在新冠肺炎后扩大这两个州的公众观察项目的覆盖范围。该奖项反映了NSF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.