The Mt. Laguna Infrared Cluster Survey: A Search for Galaxy Clusters Beyond Z = 1
Griffin, Michelle Marie
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/85173
Description
Title
The Mt. Laguna Infrared Cluster Survey: A Search for Galaxy Clusters Beyond Z = 1
Author(s)
Griffin, Michelle Marie
Issue Date
2003
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Laird A. Thompson
Department of Study
Astronomy
Discipline
Astronomy
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics
Language
eng
Abstract
The Mt. Laguna Infrared Cluster Survey (MLICS) is a survey for distant galaxy clusters conducted in the JHK' bands on the 1-m telescope at Mt. Laguna Observatory. By smoothing images after subtraction of foreground objects, clusters were detected by the fluctuations they cause in the near-infrared background light. False detections were eliminated by the J - K' color of candidate brightest cluster galaxies. The survey catalog consists of 151 cluster candidates at 0.5 ≤ zest ≤ 1.5 over 0.7 deg2. These include the first cluster candidates found in a serendipitous survey at z > 1.3. The catalog provides a sample of high-redshift cluster candidates suitable for further study, many located near guide stars for adaptive optics systems. The effectiveness of the cluster detection method was proven through the detection of test clusters and through Monte Carlo simulations. These simulations show that the survey can find clusters of M ∼ 1015 h-1 M⊙ to z ∼ 1.4 and even clusters with M ∼ 2 x 1014h-1 M⊙ as distant as z ∼ 0.8. The false positive rate of the catalog is estimated to be 50% at z < 1 based on I-band follow-up observations. The MLICS cluster density may be greater than that predicted by N-body simulations at previously untested distances of z > 1 and show that the evolution of the cluster number density is slower than previously thought.
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