Overview

The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey 2 (MaDCoWS2) is a new survey designed as the successor of the original MaDCoWS survey. MaDCoWS2 improves upon its predecessor by using deeper optical and infrared data and a more powerful detection algorithm (PZWav). As input to the search, MaDCoWS2 use grz photometry from DECaLS in combination with W1 and W2 photometry from the CatWISE2020 catalog to derive the photometric redshifts with full redshift probability distribution functions for WISE-selected galaxies. Cluster candidates are detected using the PZWav algorithm to find three-dimensional galaxy overdensities from the sky positions and photometric redshifts. The second data release of the Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey 2 (MaDCoWS2) expands from the equatorial first data release to most of the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey area, covering a total area of 6498 deg^2.

The catalog consists of 133,036 cluster candidates with S/NP≥5. The catalog covers redshifts ranging from 0.1 to 2, including 29,764 candidates at z≥1 and 6790 candidates at z>1.5. The catalog consists of name, RA, DEC, photometric redshift (and its error) and the S/N based upon Gaussian (S/NG) and Poisson (S/NP) noise statistics. In addition, it includes the names in the literature of each cluster candidate (and numbers assigned to the referred works) and spectroscopic redshifts derived from external catalogs accompanied by their references. Lastly, the catalog provides the name of any foreground cluster detections in the column Name_fg (see sec. 2.2.1 of MaDCoWS2 DR1) and the CNN probability that a detection at z>1 is a genuine cluster PCN (see sec. 3 of MaDCoWS2 DR2). A foreground detection is defined as a cluster candidate within a projected 500 kpc of a more distant candidate, requiring a redshift at least 0.12 lower than that of the more distant candidate.

If you use MaDCoWS2, please cite both the MaDCoWS2 DR1 paper (Thongkham et al., 2024) and the MaDCoWS2 DR2 paper.