We present an overview and the first data release of ZFIRE, a spectroscopic redshift survey of star-forming galaxies that utilizes the MOSFIRE instrument on Keck-I to study galaxy properties in rich environments at 1.5<z<2.5. ZFIRE measures accurate spectroscopic redshifts and basic galaxy properties derived from multiple emission lines. The galaxies are selected from a stellar mass limited sample based on deep near infrared imaging (K_AB_<25) and precise photometric redshifts from the ZFOURGE and UKIDSS surveys as well as grism redshifts from 3DHST. Between 2013 and 2015, ZFIRE has observed the COSMOS and UDS legacy fields over 13 nights and has obtained 211 galaxy redshifts over 1.57<z<2.66 from a combination of nebular emission lines (such as H{alpha}, [NII], H{beta}, [OII], [OIII], and [SII]) observed at 1-2{mu}m. Based on our medium-band near infrared photometry, we are able to spectrophotometrically flux calibrate our spectra to ~10% accuracy. ZFIRE reaches 5{sigma} emission line flux limits of ~3x10^-18^erg/s/cm^2^ with a resolving power of R=3500 and reaches masses down to ~10^9^M_{sun}_. We confirm that the primary input survey, ZFOURGE, has produced photometric redshifts for star-forming galaxies (including highly attenuated ones) accurate to {Delta}z/(1+z_spec_)=0.015 with 0.7% outliers. We measure a slight redshift bias of <0.001, and we note that the redshift bias tends to be larger at higher masses. We also examine the role of redshift on the derivation of rest-frame colors and stellar population parameters from SED fitting techniques. The ZFIRE survey extends spectroscopically confirmed z~2 samples across a richer range of environments, here we make available the first public release of the data for use by the community.
We have identified 335 galaxy cluster and group candidates, 106 of which are at z>1, using a 4.5um-selected sample of objects from a 7.25deg^2^ region in the Spitzer Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) Shallow Survey. Clusters were identified as three-dimensional overdensities using a wavelet algorithm, based on photometric redshift probability distributions derived from IRAC and NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey data. We estimate only ~10% of the detections are spurious. To date 12 of the z>1 candidates have been confirmed spectroscopically, at redshifts from 1.06 to 1.41. Velocity dispersions of ~750km/s for two of these argue for total cluster masses well above 10^14^M_{sun}_, as does the mass estimated from the rest-frame near-infrared stellar luminosity. Although not selected to contain a red sequence, some evidence for red sequences is present in the spectroscopically confirmed clusters, and brighter galaxies are systematically redder than the mean galaxy color in clusters at all redshifts.
Striking similarities have been seen between accretion signatures of Galactic X-ray binary (XRB) systems and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). XRB spectral states show a V-shaped correlation between X-ray spectral hardness and Eddington ratio as they vary, and some AGN samples reveal a similar trend, implying analogous processes at vastly larger masses and timescales. To further investigate the analogies, we have matched 617 sources from the Chandra Source Catalog (CSC) to Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectroscopy, and uniformly measured both X-ray and optical spectral characteristics across a broad range of AGN and galaxy types. We provide useful tabulations of X-ray spectral slope for broad- and narrow-line AGNs, star-forming and passive galaxies, and composite systems, also updating relationships between optical (H{alpha} and [OIII]) line emission and X-ray luminosity. We further fit broadband spectral energy distributions with a variety of templates to estimate bolometric luminosity. Our results confirm a significant trend in AGNs between X-ray spectral hardness and Eddington ratio expressed in X-ray luminosity, albeit with significant dispersion. The trend is not significant when expressed in the full bolometric or template-estimated AGN luminosity. We also confirm a relationship between the X-ray/optical spectral slope {alpha}_ox_ and Eddington ratio, but it may not follow the trend predicted by analogy with XRB accretion states.