We present a catalog of galaxy clusters selected via their Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect signature from 2500 deg 2 of South Pole Telescope (SPT) data. This work represents the complete sample of clusters detected at high significance in the 2500 deg 2 SPT-SZ survey, which was completed in 2011. A total of 677 (409) cluster candidates are identified above a signal-to-noise threshold of ξ = 4.5 (5.0). Ground-and space-based optical and near-infrared (NIR) imaging confirms overdensities of similarly colored galaxies in the direction of 516 (or 76%) of the ξ > 4.5 candidates and 387 (or 95%) of the ξ > 5 candidates; the measured purity is consistent with expectations from simulations. Of these confirmed clusters, 415 were first identified in SPT data, including 251 new discoveries reported in this work. We estimate photometric redshifts for all candidates with identified optical and/or NIR counterparts; we additionally report redshifts derived from spectroscopic observations for 141 of these systems. The mass threshold of the catalog is roughly independent of redshift above z ∼ 0.25 leading to a sample of massive clusters that extends to high redshift. The median mass of the sample is M 500c (ρ crit ) ∼ 3.5 × 10 14 M h −1 70 , the median redshift is z med = 0.55, and the highest-redshift systems are at z >1.4. The combination of large redshift extent, clean selection, and high typical mass makes this cluster sample of particular interest for cosmological analyses and studies of cluster formation and evolution.

The Blanco Cosmology Survey (BCS) is a 60 night imaging survey of ∼80 deg 2 of the southern sky located in two fields: (α,δ)= (5 hr, −55 • ) and (23 hr, −55 • ). The survey was carried out between 2005 and 2008 in griz bands with the Mosaic2 imager on the Blanco 4m telescope. The primary aim of the BCS survey is to provide the data required to optically confirm and measure photometric redshifts for Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect selected galaxy clusters from the South Pole Telescope and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. We process and calibrate the BCS data, carrying out PSF corrected model fitting photometry for all detected objects. The median 10σ galaxy (point source) depths over the survey in griz are approximately 23.3 (23.9), 23.4 (24.0), 23.0 (23.6) and 21.3 (22.1), respectively. The astrometric accuracy relative to the USNO-B survey is ∼ 45 milli-arcsec. We calibrate our absolute photometry using the stellar locus in grizJ bands, and thus our absolute photometric scale derives from 2MASS which has ∼ 2% accuracy. The scatter of stars about the stellar locus indicates a systematics floor in the relative stellar photometric scatter in griz that is ∼1.9%, ∼2.2%, ∼2.7% and∼2.7%, respectively. A simple cut in the AstrOmatic star-galaxy classifier spread model produces a star sample with good spatial uniformity. We use the resulting photometric catalogs to calibrate photometric redshifts for the survey and demonstrate scatter δz/(1 + z) = 0.054 with an outlier fraction η < 5% to z ∼ 1. We highlight some selected science results to date and provide a full description of the released data products.

We present a catalog of 224 galaxy cluster candidates, selected through their Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect signature in the first 720 deg 2 of the South Pole Telescope (SPT) survey. This area was mapped with the SPT in the 2008 and 2009 austral winters to a depth of ∼ 18 µK CMB -arcmin at 150 GHz; 550 deg 2 of it was also mapped to ∼ 44 µK CMB -arcmin at 95 GHz. Based on optical imaging of all candidates and near-infrared imaging of the majority of candidates, we have found optical and/or infrared counterparts for 158 clusters. Of these, 135 were first identified as clusters in SPT data, including 117 new discoveries reported in this work. This catalog triples the number of confirmed galaxy clusters discovered through the SZ effect. We report photometrically derived (and in some cases spectroscopic) redshifts for confirmed clusters and redshift lower limits for the remaining candidates. The catalog extends to high redshift with a median redshift of z = 0.55 and maximum redshift of z = 1.37. Forty-five of the clusters have counterparts in the ROSAT bright or faint source catalogs from which we estimate X-ray fluxes. Based on simulations, we expect the catalog to be nearly 100% complete above M 500 ≈ 5 × 10 14 M h −1 70 at z 0.6. There are 121 candidates detected at signal-to-noise greater than five, at which the catalog purity is measured to be 95%. From this highpurity subsample, we exclude the z < 0.3 clusters and use the remaining 100 candidates to improve cosmological constraints following the method presented by Benson et al. (2011). Adding the cluster data to CMB+BAO+H 0 data leads to a preference for non-zero neutrino masses while only slightly reducing the upper limit on the sum of neutrino masses to m ν < 0.38 eV (95% CL). For a spatially flat wCDM cosmological model, the addition of this catalog to the CMB+BAO+H 0 +SNe results yields σ 8 = 0.807 ± 0.027 and w = −1.010 ± 0.058, improving the constraints on these parameters by a factor of 1.4 and 1.3, respectively. The larger cluster catalog presented in this work leads to slight improvements in cosmological constraints from those presented by Benson et al. (2011). These cosmological constraints are currently limited by uncertainty in the cluster mass calibration, not the size or quality of the cluster catalog. A multi-wavelength observation program to improve the cluster mass calibration will make it possible to realize the full potential of the final 2500 deg 2 SPT cluster catalog to constrain cosmology.