Quick search Find article
Quick search
Find article

K2: A NEW METHOD FOR THE DETECTION OF GALAXY CLUSTERS BASED ON CANADA–FRANCE–HAWAII TELESCOPE LEGACY SURVEY MULTICOLOR IMAGES

FREE ISSUE

Karun Thanjavur1,2, Jon Willis1 and David Crampton1,2

Show affiliations


We have developed a new method, K2, optimized for the detection of galaxy clusters in multicolor images. Based on the Red Sequence approach, K2 detects clusters using simultaneous enhancements in both colors and position. The detection significance is robustly determined through extensive Monte Carlo simulations and through comparison with available cluster catalogs based on two different optical methods, and also on X-ray data. K2 also provides quantitative estimates of the candidate clusters' richness and photometric redshifts. Initially, K2 was applied to the two color (gri) 161 deg2 images of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey Wide (CFHTLS-W) data. Our simulations show that the false detection rate for these data, at our selected threshold, is only ~1%, and that the cluster catalogs are ~80% complete up to a redshift of z = 0.6 for Fornax-like and richer clusters and to z ~ 0.3 for poorer clusters. Based on the g-, r-, and i-band photometric catalogs of the Terapix T05 release, 35 clusters/deg2 are detected, with 1-2 Fornax-like or richer clusters every 2 deg2. Catalogs containing data for 6144 galaxy clusters have been prepared, of which 239 are rich clusters. These clusters, especially the latter, are being searched for gravitational lenses—one of our chief motivations for cluster detection in CFHTLS. The K2 method can be easily extended to use additional color information and thus improve overall cluster detection to higher redshifts. The complete set of K2 cluster catalogs, along with the supplementary catalogs for the member galaxies, are available on request from the authors.


Keywords

catalogs; galaxies: clusters: general; methods: miscellaneous


Dates

Issue 1 (2009 November 20)

Received 2009 July 10, accepted for publication 2009 October 13

Published 2009 November 2



View by subject




Export








Please login to access our web services, or create an account if you don't yet have one.

You must have cookies enabled in your web browser to be able to login.

Username
Password

Forgotten your password? Get a new one here.