We present the Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey (MaDCoWS), a search for galaxy clusters at 0.7 z 1.5 based upon data from the W ide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE ) mission. MaDCoWS is the first cluster survey capable of discovering massive clusters at these redshifts over the full extragalactic sky. The search is divided into two regions -the region of the extragalactic sky covered by Pan-STARRS (δ > −30 • ) and the remainder of the southern extragalactic sky at δ < −30 • for which shallower optical data from SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey are available. In this paper we describe the search algorithm, characterize the sample, and present the first MaDCoWS data release -catalogs of the 2433 highest amplitude detections in the WISE -Pan-STARRS region and the 250 highest amplitude detections in the WISE -SuperCOSMOS region. A total of 1723 of the detections from the WISE -Pan-STARRS sample have also been observed with the Spitzer S pace Telescope, providing photometric redshifts and richnesses, and an additional 64 detections within the WISE -SuperCOSMOS region also have photometric redshifts and richnesses. Spectroscopic redshifts for 38 MaDCoWS clusters with IRAC photometry demonstrate that the photometric redshifts have an uncertainty of σ z /(1 + z) 0.036. Combining the richness measurements with Sunyaev-Zel'dovich observations of MaDCoWS clusters, we also present a preliminary mass-richness relation that can be used to infer the approximate mass distribution of the full sample. The estimated median mass for the WISE -Pan-STARRS catalog is M 500 = 1.6 +0.7 −0.8 × 10 14 M , with the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich data confirming that we detect clusters with masses up to M 500 ∼ 5 × 10 14 M (M 200 ∼ 10 15 M ).

We present the results from a pilot study with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) to determine the radio morphologies of extended radio sources and the properties of their host-galaxies in 10 massive galaxy clusters at z ∼ 1, an epoch in which clusters are assembling rapidly. These clusters are drawn from a parent sample of WISE -selected galaxy clusters that were cross-correlated with the VLA Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters survey (FIRST) to identify extended radio sources within 1 of the cluster centers. Out of the ten targeted sources, six are FR II sources, one is an FR I source, and three sources have undetermined morphologies. Eight radio sources have associated Spitzer data, 75% presenting infrared counterparts. A majority of these counterparts are consistent with being massive galaxies. The angular extent of the FR sources exhibits a strong correlation with the cluster-centric radius, which warrants further investigation with a larger sample.

Quasar outflows have been posited as a mechanism to couple super-massive black holes to evolution in their host galaxies. We use multi-epoch spectra from the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based observatories to study the outflows in seven quasars that have CIV outflow lines ranging from a classic BAL to weaker/narrower "mini-BALs" across rest wavelengths of at least 850 to 1650 . The CIV outflow lines all varied within a time frame of ≤ 1.9 yrs (rest). This includes equal occurrences of strengthening and weakening plus the emergence of a new BAL system at −38,800 km/s accompanied by dramatic strengthening in a mini-BAL at −22,800 km/s. We infer from ∼1:1 doublet ratios in PV and other lines that the BAL system is highly saturated with line-of-sight covering fractions ranging from 0.27 to 0.80 in the highest to lowest column density regions, respectively. Three of the mini-BALs also provide evidence for saturation and partial covering based on ∼1:1 doublet ratios. We speculate that the BALs and mini-BALs form in similar clumpy/filamentary outflows, with mini-BALs identifying smaller or fewer clumps along our lines of sight. If we attribute the line variabilities to clumps crossing our lines of sight at roughly Keplerian speeds, then a typical variability time in our study, ∼1.1 yrs, corresponds to a distance ∼2 pc from the central black hole. Combining this with the speed and minimum total column density inferred from the PV BAL, N H > ∼ 2.5 × 10 22 cm −2 , suggests that the BAL outflow kinetic energy is in the range believed to be sufficient for feedback to galaxy evolution.

We present the results from a study with NSF's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to determine the radio morphologies of extended radio sources and the properties of their host galaxies in 50 massive galaxy clusters at z ∼ 1. We find a majority of the radio morphologies to be Fanaroff-Riley (FR) type IIs. By analyzing the infrared counterparts of the radio sources, we find that ∼40% of the host galaxies are the candidate brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) and ∼83% are consistent with being one of the top six most massive galaxies in the cluster. We investigate the role of environmental factors on the radio-loud AGN population by examining correlations between environmental and radio-galaxy properties. We find that the highest stellar mass hosts (M * 4×10 11 M ) are confined to the cluster center and host compact jets. There is evidence for an increase in the size of the jets with clustercentric radius, which may be attributed to the decreased ICM pressure confinement with increasing radius. Besides this correlation, there are no other significant correlations between the properties of the radio-AGN (luminosity, morphology, or size) and environmental properties (cluster richness and location within the cluster). The fact that there are more AGN in the cluster environment than the field at this epoch, combined with the lack of strong correlation between galaxy and environmental properties, argues that the cluster environment fosters radio activity but does not solely drive the evolution of these sources at this redshift.1 The conversion from Vega to AB for [3.6] is [3.6] Vega = [3.6] AB -2.79 and for [4.5] the conversion is [4.5] Vega = [4.5] AB -3.26, assuming z=1.

We present measurements of the stellar mass fractions (f ) for a sample of high-redshift (0.93 ≤ z ≤ 1.32) infrared-selected galaxy clusters from the Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey (MaDCoWS) and compare them to the stellar mass fractions of Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect-selected clusters in a similar mass and redshift range from the South Pole Telescope (SPT)-SZ Survey. We do not find a significant difference in mean f between the two selection methods, though we do find an unexpectedly large range in f for the SZ-selected clusters. In addition, we measure the luminosity function of the MaDCoWS clusters and find m * = 19.41 ± 0.07, similar to other studies of clusters at or near our redshift range. Finally, we present SZ detections and masses for seven MaDCoWS clusters and new spectroscopic redshifts for five MaDCoWS clusters. One of these new clusters, MOO J1521+0452 at z = 1.31, is the most distant MaDCoWS cluster confirmed to date.