A Search for Distant Galaxy Cluster Hosting Extreme Central Galaxies
Abstract
The recent discovery of the "Phoenix cluster" which, at z = 0.6, is the most X-ray luminous clusters known and harbors a massive starburst at its center, begs the question: Why was is not discovered until recently? In fact, the object has been previously detected by several all-sky surveys at a variety of wavelengths, but it is consistently classified as a quasar (QSO) because of the extremely bright central galaxy and a (relative) lack of extended X-ray emission due to its distance. This lead us to question of how many of these Phoenix-like clusters are currently mislabelled in existing all-sky surveys.A unique property of the Phoenix cluster which helps us identify other Phoenix-like objects is that it is bright at multiple wavelength, including X-ray (intracluster medium and central AGN), near-IR (giant central elliptical galaxy), mid-IR (warm dust from starburst and AGN) and radio (radio-loud central AGN). Therefore, we can identify potential Phoenix-like clusters by cross-correlating all-sky surveys from ROSAT (X-ray), 2MASS (near-IR), WISE (mid-IR) and both SUMSS and NVSS (radio). By requiring sources to be bright in all four surveys, we can quickly find (among other sources) a sample of Phoenix-like clusters that can be followed up either by using archival images from SDSS for Northern-hemisphere objects or taking new images from the Magellan telescope for Southern-hemisphere objects. Here, we will present the preliminary result from the project.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #227
- Pub Date:
- January 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AAS...22743907S