Spectroscopic Confirmation of Two Massive Red-Sequence-Selected Galaxy Clusters at z ~ 1.2 in the SpARCS-North Cluster Survey

TL;DR

This paper reports spectroscopic confirmation of two massive galaxy clusters at z ~ 1.2 identified through a red-sequence survey, demonstrating the effectiveness of two-filter imaging for high-redshift cluster selection.

Contribution

It provides the first spectroscopic confirmation of massive clusters at z > 1 using infrared red-sequence selection, validating the survey method and estimating their masses.

Findings

Confirmed two galaxy clusters at z ~ 1.2 with spectroscopic redshifts.

Measured velocity dispersions indicating cluster masses of approximately 10^14 to 2.4 x 10^14 solar masses.

Demonstrated two-filter imaging as an efficient method for selecting high-redshift clusters.

Abstract

The Spitzer Adaptation of the Red-sequence Cluster Survey (SpARCS) is a deep z'-band imaging survey covering the Spitzer SWIRE Legacy fields designed to create the first large homogeneously-selected sample of massive clusters at z > 1 using an infrared adaptation of the cluster red-sequence method. We present an overview of the northern component of the survey which has been observed with CFHT/MegaCam and covers 28.3 deg^2. The southern component of the survey was observed with CTIO/MOSAICII, covers 13.6 deg^2, and is summarized in a companion paper by Wilson et al. (2008). We also present spectroscopic confirmation of two rich cluster candidates at z ~ 1.2. Based on Nod-and-Shuffle spectroscopy from GMOS-N on Gemini there are 17 and 28 confirmed cluster members in SpARCS J163435+402151 and SpARCS J163852+403843 which have spectroscopic redshifts of 1.1798 and 1.1963, respectively. The clusters have velocity dispersions of 490 +/- 140 km/s and 650 +/- 160 km/s, respectively which imply masses (M200) of (1.0 +/- 0.9) x 10^{14} M_{solar} and (2.4 +/- 1.8) x 10^{14} M_{solar}. Confirmation of these candidates as bona fide massive clusters demonstrates that two-filter imaging is an effective, yet observationally efficient, method for selecting clusters at z > 1.