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The Planck list of high-redshift source candidates (the PHz catalogue) contains 2151 peaks in the cosmic infrared background, unresolved by Planck’s 5 arcmin beam. Follow-up spectroscopic observations have revealed that some of these objects are $z\, {\approx }\, 2$ protoclusters and strong gravitational lenses but an unbiased survey has not yet been carried out. To this end, we have used archival Herschel-SPIRE observations to study a uniformly selected sample of 187 PHz sources. In contrast with follow-up studies that were biased towards bright, compact sources, we find that only one of our PHz sources is a bright gravitationally lensed galaxy (peak flux ${\gtrsim }\, 300$ mJy), indicating that such objects are rarer in the PHz catalogue than previously believed (<1 per cent). The majority of our PHz sources consist of many red, star-forming galaxies, demonstrating that typical PHz sources are candidate protoclusters. However, our new PHz sources are significantly less bright than found in previous studies and differ in colour, suggesting possible differences in redshift and star formation rate. None the less, 40 of our PHz sources contain ${\gt }\, 3\, \sigma$ galaxy overdensities, comparable to the fraction of ${\gt }\, 3\, \sigma$ overdensities found in earlier biased studies. We additionally use a machine-learning approach to identify less extreme (peak flux ${\sim }\, 100$ mJy) gravitationally lensed galaxies among Herschel-SPIRE observations of PHz sources, finding a total of seven candidates in our unbiased sample, and 13 amongst previous biased samples. Our new uniformly selected catalogues of ${\gt }\, 3\, \sigma$ candidate protoclusters and strong gravitational lenses provide interesting targets for follow up with higher resolution facilities, such as ALMA and JWST.

 

We present a detailed study of the Planck-selected binary galaxy cluster PLCK G165.7+67.0 (G165;z= 0.348). A multiband photometric catalog is generated incorporating new imaging from the Large Binocular Telescope/Large Binocular Camera and Spitzer/IRAC to existing imaging. To cope with the different image characteristics, robust methods are applied in the extraction of the matched-aperture photometry. Photometric redshifts are estimated for 143 galaxies in the 4 arcmin²field of overlap covered by these data. We confirm that strong-lensing effects yield 30 images of 11 background galaxies, of which we contribute new photometric redshift estimates for three image multiplicities. These constraints enable the construction of a revised lens model with a total mass ofM_{600 kpc}= (2.36 ± 0.23) × 10¹⁴M_⊙. In parallel, new spectroscopy using MMT/Binospec and archival data contributes thirteen galaxies that meet our velocity and transverse radius criteria for cluster membership. The two cluster components have a pair-wise velocity of ≲100 km s⁻¹, favoring an orientation in the plane of the sky with a transverse velocity of 100–1700 km s⁻¹. At the same time, the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) is offset in velocity from the systemic mean value, suggesting dynamical disturbance. New LOFAR and Very Large Array data uncover head-tail radio galaxies in the BCG and a large red galaxy in the northeast component. From the orientation and alignment of the four radio trails, we infer that the two cluster components have already traversed each other, and are now exiting the cluster.

 

Abstract We give an overview and describe the rationale, methods, and first results from NIRCam images of the JWST “Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science” (PEARLS) project. PEARLS uses up to eight NIRCam filters to survey several prime extragalactic survey areas: two fields at the North Ecliptic Pole (NEP); seven gravitationally lensing clusters; two high redshift protoclusters; and the iconic backlit VV 191 galaxy system to map its dust attenuation. PEARLS also includes NIRISS spectra for one of the NEP fields and NIRSpec spectra of two high-redshift quasars. The main goal of PEARLS is to study the epoch of galaxy assembly, active galactic nucleus (AGN) growth, and First Light. Five fields—the JWST NEP Time-Domain Field (TDF), IRAC Dark Field, and three lensing clusters—will be observed in up to four epochs over a year. The cadence and sensitivity of the imaging data are ideally suited to find faint variable objects such as weak AGN, high-redshift supernovae, and cluster caustic transits. Both NEP fields have sightlines through our Galaxy, providing significant numbers of very faint brown dwarfs whose proper motions can be studied. Observations from the first spoke in the NEP TDF are public. This paper presents our first PEARLS observations, their NIRCam data reduction and analysis, our first object catalogs, the 0.9–4.5 μ m galaxy counts and Integrated Galaxy Light. We assess the JWST sky brightness in 13 NIRCam filters, yielding our first constraints to diffuse light at 0.9–4.5 μ m. PEARLS is designed to be of lasting benefit to the community.