A DECADE of Giants: A catalog of 42,000 optically identified galaxy clusters from 13,000 $\mathrm{deg}^2$ of the sky
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Galaxy clusters are sensitive to a rich variety of physics spanning a wide dynamic range, from microphysical to cosmological scales. Optical datasets are efficient at identifying clusters and studying their properties. We leverage 13,000 $\rm deg^2$ of the sky imaged by the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) and extract over 40,000 clusters using the redMaPPer algorithm. Our catalog spans $0.2 < z < 0.9$ and $M_{\rm 200c} \gtrsim 10^{14} {\rm M}_{\odot}/h$, with four-band ($griz$) photometric redshifts that have a precision $σ_z/(1 + z) \leq 0.008$ below $z < 0.65$, and $\leq 0.011$ between $0.65 < z < 0.9$ and that exhibit an outlier rate of $f_{\rm out} < 0.2\%$. Our cluster finding is calibrated using spectroscopic data, but we find that a larger spectroscopic sample does not improve the performance of our cluster redshift estimation. We cross-match our catalog to those produced from millimeter-wave and X-ray data, and extract scaling relations between various cluster observables. There is excellent agreement between our estimates for different subsets of the 13,000 ${\rm deg}^2$ dataset, and also with results from prior catalogs and simulations. We use our joint analysis of millimeter-wave and optical data to estimate the halo masses of individual clusters. We also provide lensing profiles, measured for each cluster using overlapping galaxy shape catalogs, to enable additional mass-calibration work from the community. We demonstrate from a suite of tests that spatial inhomogeneity in the quality of the imaging data does not have an appreciable impact on the properties of this catalog. We also test a cylindrical richness observable, which is defined such that it is significantly simpler to model, and show that it has precision competitive with the traditional optical richness observable. All data products and measurements are made publicly available.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Anbajagane, D., To, C., Gaido, M., Chang, C., Drlica-Wagner, A., Adamow, M., Alarcon, A., Becker, M. R., Bom, C. R., Carballo-Bello, J. A., Chicoine, N., Choi, Y., Costanzi, M., Ferguson, P. S., Gatti, M., Giles, P. A., Grandis, S., Gruen, D., Gruendl, R. A., Hartley, W. G., Herron, G., James, David J., Jeltema, T. E., MacCrann, N., Navabi, M., Martínez-Vázquez, C. E., Mau, S., McCullough, J., Mutlu-Pakdil, B., Noël, N. E. D., Pace, A. B., Prat, J., Riley, A. H., Romer, A. K., Sand, D. J., Santana-Silva, L., Secco, L. F., Sevilla-Noarbe, I., Shin, T., Stringfellow, G. S., Tan, C. Y., Teixeira, R., Wu, H. -Y., Zenteno, A., Zhang, Y., Zhang, Z., Zuntz, J.
Institutions: University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Institute of Space Sciences, Argonne National Laboratory, Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, University of Tarapacá, University of Pittsburgh, NSF NOIRLab, Trieste Astronomical Observatory, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste, University of Washington, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, University of Sussex, Universität Innsbruck, Excellence Cluster Origins, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, University of Geneva, Dartmouth College, University of California, Santa Cruz, University of Cambridge, University of Surrey, Duke University, Lund University, Princeton University, University of Virginia, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, University of Arizona, Valongo Observatory, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Colorado Boulder, Southern Methodist University, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, University of Edinburgh
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, University of Pennsylvania, Ohio State University, University of Chicago, University of Portsmouth, University College London, University of Sussex, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Institut de Física d'Altes Energies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas, Laboratory Directed Research and Development, Integrated Electronics Engineering Center, Binghamton University, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermilab, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Awards: Collaborative Research: Cosmic Shear on Extremely Large Scales with the Dark Energy Camera, G1682672702, G1818210073, Collaborative Research: Jump Starting LSST Proper Motion Science with 12 Years of DECam Observations, Collaborative Research: Cosmic Shear on Extremely Large Scales with the Dark Energy Camera, G2037078528, G2290189609, G2394197028, G2636502879, G3169836530, G3586607516, The Dark Energy Survey Data Management Operations, G419118642, G4334057779, G454676879, G490073602, G4944594896, G5601225551, G5607546486, G5617605617, Collaborative Research: Jump Starting LSST Proper Motion Science with 12 Years of DECam Observations, G6456579225, G6619390584, Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), G7711421660, G7788408655, G7835623888, G7915813472, Collaborative Research: Jump Starting LSST Proper Motion Science with 12 Years of DECam Observations, Collaborative Research: The Dark Energy Survey Data Management Operations, Studying the Threshold of Galaxy Formation with Ultra-Faint Galaxies, G970802521
OpenAlex ID: W7223038624