Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Large surveys of galaxy clusters with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Spitzer, including the Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble and the Frontier Fields, have demonstrated the power of strong gravitational lensing to efficiently deliver large samples of high-redshift galaxies. We extend this strategy through a wider, shallower survey named RELICS, the Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey, described here. Our 188-orbit Hubble Treasury Program observed 41 clusters at 0.182 ≤ z ≤ 0.972 with Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and WFC3/IR imaging spanning 0.4–1.7 μm. We selected 21 of the most massive clusters known based on Planck PSZ2 estimates and 20 additional clusters based on observed or inferred lensing strength. RELICS observed 46 WFC3/IR pointings (∼200 arcmin2) each with two orbits divided among four filters (F105W, F125W, F140W, and F160W) and ACS imaging as needed to achieve single-orbit depth in each of three filters (F435W, F606W, and F814W). As previously reported by Salmon et al., we discovered over 300 z ∼ 6–10 candidates, including the brightest z ∼ 6 candidates known, and the most distant spatially resolved lensed arc known at z ∼ 10. Spitzer IRAC imaging (945 hr awarded, plus 100 archival, spanning 3.0–5.0 μm) has crucially enabled us to distinguish z ∼ 10 candidates from z ∼ 2 interlopers. For each cluster, two HST observing epochs were staggered by about a month, enabling us to discover 11 supernovae, including 3 lensed supernovae, which we followed up with 20 orbits from our program. Reduced HST images, catalogs, and lens models are available on MAST, and reduced Spitzer images are available on IRSA.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Authors: Dan Coe, Brett Salmon, Maruša Bradač, Larry D. Bradley, Keren Sharon, Adi Zitrin, Ana Acebron, Catherine Cerny, Nathália Cibirka, Victoria Strait, Rachel Paterno-Mahler, Guillaume Mahler, Roberto J. Avila, Sara Ogaz, Kuang-Han Huang, Debora Pelliccia, Daniel P. Stark, Ramesh Mainali, Pascal A. Oesch, Michele Trenti, Daniela Carrasco, William A. Dawson, Steven A. Rodney, Louis-Gregory Strolger, Adam G. Riess, Christine Jones, Brenda L. Frye, Nicole G. Czakon, Keiichi Umetsu, Benedetta Vulcani, Or Graur, Saurabh W. Jha, Melissa L. Graham, Alberto Molino, Mario Nonino, Jens Hjorth, Jonatan Selsing, Lise Christensen, Shotaro Kikuchihara, Masami Ouchi, Masamune Oguri, Brian Welch, Brian C. Lemaux, Felipe Andrade-Santos, Austin T. Hoag, Traci L. Johnson, Avery Peterson, Matthew Past, Carter Fox, Irene Agulli, Rachael Livermore, Russell E. Ryan, Daniel Lam, Irene Sendra-Server, Sune Toft, Lorenzo Lovisari, Yuanyuan Su
Institutions: Space Telescope Science Institute, University of California, Davis, University of Michigan, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Boston University, University of California, Riverside, University of Arizona, University of Geneva, University of Copenhagen, The University of Melbourne, ASTRO-3D, ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of South Carolina, Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian, Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Academia Sinica, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, American Museum of Natural History, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, University of Washington, Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Trieste Astronomical Observatory, Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, The University of Tokyo, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, Johns Hopkins University, Leiden University, Leiden Observatory, University of the Basque Country, University of Kentucky
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, California Institute of Technology, Villum Fonden, Space Telescope Science Institute, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, Academia Sinica, Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Awards: G1088636562, G1356433355, G14554683, G1707138195, G2145270357, G2291885727, G2572508928, G2717806384, G2722258755, Spectral Mining: Transforming Spectroscopic Galaxy Surveys into Transient Surveys, G290545188, G2921844034, G3572101131, G3669113783, G433322167, G4518818167, Preparation of ZnO thin films by MOCVD, Shapes and Alignments of Dark Matter and Baryons in Galaxy Clusters, G58316358, WHEN DID GALAXIES START FORMING STARS? WHAT IS THE ROLE OF DISTANT GALAXIES IN GALAXY FORMATION MODELS AND THE EPOCH OF REIONIZATION? WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS IN TYPICAL LOW-MASS STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AT Z ~ 4? WHY IS GALAXY EVOLUTION DEPENDENT ON ENVIRONMENT? TO SOLVE THESE PUZZLES OF GALAXY EVOLUTION WE WILL USE 41 GALAXY CLUSTERS FROM THE RELICS PROGRAM (REIONIZATION LENSING CLUSTER SURVEY) THAT ARE AMONG THE MOST POWERFUL COSMIC TELESCOPES. THEIR MAGNIFICATION WILL ALLOW US TO STUDY STELLAR PROPERTIES OF A LARGE NUMBER OF GALAXIES ALL THE WAY TO THE REIONIZATION ERA. ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE OF STELLAR MASSES AGES AND STAR FORMATION RATES (SFRS) REQUIRES MEASURING BOTH REST-FRAME UV AND OPTICAL LIGHT WHICH ONLY SPITZER CAN PROBE AT Z>0.5-11 FOR A SUFFICIENTLY LARGE SAMPLE OF TYPICAL GALAXIES. THIS PROGRAM WILL COMBINE SPITZER IMAGING FROM TWO LARGE PROGRAMS DIRECTOR DISCRETIONARY TIME (DDT) AND THE SRELICS PROGRAM LED BY THE PI. THE MAIN CHALLENGE IN A STUDY SUCH AS THIS IS THE CAPABILITY TO PERFORM RELIABLE PHOTOMETRY IN CROWDED FIELDS., G6273510985, G6282059440, G6756316859, G767601387, G8084394538, G8210229802, G8532761386, G895790057, G939887807, G991281326
OpenAlex ID: W2945003989