A Large-scale Structure at Redshift 1.71 in the Lockman Hole

We previously identified LH146, a diffuse X-ray source in the Lockman Hole, as a galaxy cluster at redshift 1.753. The redshift was based on one spectroscopic value, buttressed by seven additional photometric redshifts. We confirm here the previous spectroscopic redshift and present concordant spectroscopic redshifts for an additional eight galaxies. The average of these nine redshifts is 1.714 ± 0.012 (error on the mean). Scrutiny of the galaxy distribution in redshift space and the plane of the sky shows that there are two concentrations of galaxies near the X-ray source. In addition, there are three diffuse X-ray sources spread along the axis connecting the galaxy concentrations. LH146 is one of these three and lies approximately at the center of the two galaxy concentrations and the outer two diffuse X-ray sources. We thus conclude that LH146 is at the redshift initially reported but it is not a single virialized galaxy cluster, as previously assumed. Rather, it appears to mark the approximate center of a larger region containing more objects. For brevity, we refer to all these objects and their alignments as a large-scale structure. The exact nature of LH146 itself remains unclear.