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

该团队将在遥远的宇宙中寻找星系团和原星系团，回到第一个星系团形成的时候，以便对宇宙中最庞大的星系在它们迅速成长的时候进行详细的研究。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的数据与美国国家科学基金会位于智利塞罗托洛洛美洲天文台的布兰科望远镜上的暗能量相机（DECam）的目录相结合，将使该团队能够确定宇宙三维体积中第一批星团的形成位置。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。该项目将探测和描述10480平方英尺0.5z2的巨大星系团人口。度，建立在先前由同一小组进行的星团调查的基础上，该调查主要关注z~1的星团。由此产生的星团样本将能够详细研究自恒星形成高峰和快速质量聚集时代以来最密集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。DECam和WISE数据的组合将用于计算WISE星系样本的贝叶斯光度红移概率分布，然后在三维数据立方体中检测星系团尺度的过密度。这些项目将促进参与该项目的学生的职业发展。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。

The team will search for galaxy clusters and protoclusters in the distant Universe, back to the time when the first clusters were forming, allowing 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 NSF’s Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory in Chile will allow the team to determine where the first clusters are forming in a 3D volume of the universe. 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 detect and characterize the massive galaxy cluster population at 0.5z2 over 10,480 sq. degrees, building upon a previous cluster survey by the same team, which focused upon galaxy clusters at z~1. The resulting cluster sample 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. A combination of DECam and WISE data will be used to compute Bayesian photometric redshift probability distributions for the WISE galaxy sample and then to detect cluster scale overdensities within a 3-dimensional data cube. The PIs will foster the career development of the students working on this project.. 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.