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Introduction: Large Surveys- ESO Distant Clusters Survey

EDisCS aims at studying the evolution of cluster populations over more than 50 % of cosmic time by comparing the photometric and spectroscopic properties of galaxies in rich clusters at z~0.5 and z>0.8 with those of galaxies in well studied nearby clusters. Our samples consist of the most luminous objects in each redshift band in the Las Campanas Cluster Survey, by far the largest area optical survey for distant clusters so far completed.

The project runs in three phases:

Phase I: Cluster confirmation. We have carried out medium depth photometry in two bands with FORS2 in order to confirm the reality and the approximate redshifts of the cluster candidates.

Phase II: Deep photometry. We have obtained deep optical photometry using FORS2 at B, V and I for the 10 brightest confirmed clusters at z~0.5 and at B, R and I for the 10 brightest confirmed clusters at z~0.8. We have obtained deep near-IR photometry using SOFI on the NTT at K' for the nearer clusters and at J and K' for the more distant clusters. We expect to release the photometric data publically at the end of 2005.

Phase III: Spectroscopy. We are using FORS2 to obtain spectra of possible cluster members in the 20 clusters with deep photometry. For the more massive galaxies the goal will be to obtain both stellar population and kinematic information. The first set of spectroscopy on 5 clusters was released in 2004 and we expect to realease the spectroscopic data on the rest of the clusters publically at the end of 2005.

Please see the Publications link for more information about papers and our data release.

The investigators

EDisCS is being carried out by an international consortium of 25 astronomers from 6 countries. A group photo can be found here

A. Aragón-Salamanca ( Nottingham, UK )

R. Bender ( Munich, D )

P. Best ( ROE, Scotland )

M. Bremer ( Bristol, UK )

S. Charlot (IAP, F )

D. Clowe ( Ohio University, USA)

J. Dalcanton ( U.Washington, USA )

B. Fort ( IAP, F )

P. Jablonka ( EPFL, CH; CNRS, F)

G. Kauffmann ( MPA, D )

Y. Mellier ( IAP, F )

R. Pello ( OMP, F )

B. Poggianti ( Padova, I )

H. Rottgering ( Leiden, NL )

P. Schneider ( Bonn, D )

D. Zaritsky ( U. Arizona, USA )

G. De Lucia ( MPA, D )

V. Desai ( Caltech, USA )

C. Halliday ( Goettingen, D )

B. Milvang-Jensen ( Copenhagen, DK )

G. Rudnick ( NOAO, USA )

R. Saglia ( Munich, D )

L. Simard ( U. Victoria, C )

S. Bamford ( Nottingham, UK )

I. Whiley ( Nottingham, UK )

O. Johnson (ROE, Scotland )

A. von der Linden (MPA-Garching, D )

J. Moustakas (U. Arizona, USA )

R. Finn (Siena College, USA )

F. Barazza (Geneve, CH )

Scientific investigations

First projects planned by consortium scientists include:

Gravitational lensing, very high-z objects, galaxy counts, mass-to-light ratios, stellar population (early/late type galaxies), star formation and dust, morphologies, AGNs, scaling relations, luminosity function, cluster structure and dynamics, evolution of clusters and cluster galaxies.

Images of clusters

Low redshift clusters(z~0.5)

High redshift clusters (0.6< z < 0.8)

Cluster cl1037 - Weak lensing mass reconstruction superposed on the I image.

Large jpg image of cl1037 (389 ko)

Comments to: Gregory Rudnick grudnick@mpa-garching.mpg.de
last modified 19/08/04