PSZSPT: a joint Planck and SPT-SZ cluster catalog

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method for extracting galaxy cluster catalogs by combining space-based Planck and ground-based SPT-SZ data, demonstrating the feasibility and advantages of joint analysis for future CMB experiments.

Contribution

The authors develop a matched multi-filter technique that effectively combines heterogeneous millimeter datasets from space and ground, enabling blind cluster detection with improved redshift coverage.

Findings

Successfully detected 419 clusters, including 42 new candidates.

Demonstrated consistency of flux measurements between Planck and SPT-SZ.

Proved joint extraction is feasible and beneficial for future large-scale CMB surveys.

Abstract

We present the first cluster catalog extracted from combined space-based (Planck) and ground-based (South Pole Telescope; SPT-SZ) millimeter data. We developed and applied a matched multi-filter (MMF) capable of dealing with the different transfer functions and resolutions of the two datasets. We verified that it produces results consistent with publications from Planck and SPT collaborations when applied on the datasets individually. We also verified that Planck and SPT-SZ cluster fluxes are consistent with each other. When applied blindly to the combined dataset, the MMF generated a catalog of 419 detections ($S/N>5$), of which 323 are already part of the SPT-SZ or PSZ2 catalogs; 54 are new SZ detections, which have been identified in other catalogs or surveys; and 42 are new unidentified candidates. The MMF takes advantage of the complementarity of the two datasets, Planck being particularly useful for detecting clusters at a low redshift ($z<0.3$), while SPT is efficient at finding higher redshift ($z>0.3$) sources. This work represents a proof of concept that blind cluster extraction can be performed on combined, inhomogeneous millimeter datasets acquired from space and ground. This result is of prime importance for planned ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments (e.g., Simons Observatory, CMB-S4) and envisaged CMB space missions (e.g., PICO, Backlight) that will detect hundreds of thousands of clusters in the low mass regime ($M_{500} \leqslant 10^{14} M_\odot$), for which the various sources of intra-cluster emission (gas, dust, synchrotron) will be of the same order of magnitude and hence require broad ground and space frequency coverage with a comparable spatial resolution for adequate separation.