SIMBAD references

We describe the scientific motivation behind, and the methodology of, the Stanford Cluster Search (StaCS), a program to compile a catalog of optically selected galaxy clusters at intermediate and high (0.3≲z≲1) redshifts. The clusters are identified using a matched filter algorithm applied to deep CCD images covering ∼60 deg² of sky. These images are obtained from several data archives, principally that of the Berkeley Supernova Cosmology Project of Perlmutter et al. Potential clusters are confirmed with spectroscopic observations at the 9.2 m Hobby-Eberly Telescope. Follow-up observations at optical, submillimeter, and X-ray wavelengths are planned in order to estimate cluster masses. Our long-term scientific goal is to measure the cluster number density as a function of mass and redshift, n(M, z), which is sensitive to the cosmological density parameter Ω_m and the amplitude of density fluctuations σ₈. The combined data set will contain clusters ranging over an order of magnitude in mass and allow constraints on these parameters accurate to ∼10%. We present our first spectroscopically confirmed cluster candidates and describe how to access them electronically.