Submillimeter Imaging of RCS022434-0002.5: Intense Activity in a High-Redshift Cluster?

Abstract

We present deep 850micron imaging of the z=0.773 strong lensing galaxy cluster RCSJ022434-0002.5 from the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey (RCS). These data are part of a larger submillimeter survey of RCS clusters, with SCUBA on the JCMT. We find five objects at 850micron, all of which are also detected at either 1.4-GHz, 450micron or both. The number density of objects in this field is in general agreement with the blank-field source counts; however, when combined with other cluster surveys a general tendency of cluster fields towards higher submm number densities is seen, which may be the result of unrecognized submillimeter luminous cluster galaxies. Primarily employing optical photometric redshifts we show that two of the five submillimeter galaxies in this field are consistent with being cluster members, while two are more likely background systems.