arXiv subjects

J. L. Marshall

Publications and source records attributed to J. L. Marshall.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Dwarf AGNs from Optical Variability for the Origins of Seeds (DAVOS): Insights from the Dark Energy Survey Deep Fields

We present a sample of 706, $z < 1.5$ active galactic nuclei (AGNs) selected from optical photometric variability in three of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) deep fields (E2, C3, and X3) over an area of 4.64 deg$^2$. We construct light curves using difference imaging aperture photometry for resolved sources and non-difference imaging PSF photometry for unresolved sources, respectively, and characterize the variability significance. Our DES light curves have a mean cadence of 7 days, a 6 year baseline, and a single-epoch imaging depth of up to $g \sim 24.5$. Using spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting, we find 26 out of total 706 variable galaxies are consistent with dwarf galaxies with a reliable stellar mass estimate ($M_{\ast}<10^{9.5}\ M_\odot$; median photometric redshift of 0.9). We were able to constrain rapid characteristic variability timescales ($\sim$ weeks) using the DES light curves in 15 dwarf AGN candidates (a subset of our variable AGN candidates) at a median photometric redshift of 0.4. This rapid variability is consistent with their low black hole masses. We confirm the low-mass AGN nature of one source with a high S/N optical spectrum. We publish our catalog, optical light curves, and supplementary data, such as X-ray properties and optical spectra, when available. We measure a variable AGN fraction versus stellar mass and compare to results from a forward model. This work demonstrates the feasibility of optical variability to identify AGNs with lower black hole masses in deep fields, which may be more "pristine" analogs of supermassive black hole seeds.

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arXiv2022

The Dark Energy Survey 5-year photometrically identified Type Ia Supernovae

As part of the cosmology analysis using Type Ia Supernovae (SN Ia) in the Dark Energy Survey (DES), we present photometrically identified SN Ia samples using multi-band light-curves and host galaxy redshifts. For this analysis, we use the photometric classification framework SuperNNova (SNN; Möller et al. 2019) trained on realistic DES-like simulations. For reliable classification, we process the DES SN programme (DES-SN) data and introduce improvements to the classifier architecture, obtaining classification accuracies of more than 98 per cent on simulations. This is the first SN classification to make use of ensemble methods, resulting in more robust samples. Using photometry, host galaxy redshifts, and a classification probability requirement, we identify 1,863 SNe Ia from which we select 1,484 cosmology-grade SNe Ia spanning the redshift range of 0.07 < z < 1.14. We find good agreement between the light-curve properties of the photometrically-selected sample and simulations. Additionally, we create similar SN Ia samples using two types of Bayesian Neural Network classifiers that provide uncertainties on the classification probabilities. We test the feasibility of using these uncertainties as indicators for out-of-distribution candidates and model confidence. Finally, we discuss the implications of photometric samples and classification methods for future surveys such as Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).

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arXiv2022

Superclustering with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and Dark Energy Survey: I. Evidence for thermal energy anisotropy using oriented stacking

The cosmic web contains filamentary structure on a wide range of scales. On the largest scales, superclustering aligns multiple galaxy clusters along inter-cluster bridges, visible through their thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich signal in the Cosmic Microwave Background. We demonstrate a new, flexible method to analyze the hot gas signal from multi-scale extended structures. We use a Compton-$y$ map from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) stacked on redMaPPer cluster positions from the optical Dark Energy Survey (DES). Cutout images from the $y$ map are oriented with large-scale structure information from DES galaxy data such that the superclustering signal is aligned before being overlaid. We find evidence for an extended quadrupole moment of the stacked $y$ signal at the 3.5$σ$ level, demonstrating that the large-scale thermal energy surrounding galaxy clusters is anisotropically distributed. We compare our ACT$\times$DES results with the Buzzard simulations, finding broad agreement. Using simulations, we highlight the promise of this novel technique for constraining the evolution of anisotropic, non-Gaussian structure using future combinations of microwave and optical surveys.

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arXiv2022

Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: Three-Point Shear Correlations and Mass Aperture Moments

We present high signal-to-noise measurements of three-point shear correlations and the third moment of the mass aperture statistic using the first 3 years of data from the Dark Energy Survey. We additionally obtain the first measurements of the configuration and scale dependence of the four three-point shear correlations which carry cosmological information. With the third-order mass aperture statistic, we present tomographic measurements over angular scales of 4 to 60 arcminutes with a combined statistical significance of 15.0$σ$. Using the tomographic information and measuring also the second-order mass aperture, we additionally obtain a skewness parameter and its redshift evolution. We find that the amplitudes and scale-dependence of these shear 3pt functions are in qualitative agreement with measurements in a mock galaxy catalog based on N-body simulations, indicating promise for including them in future cosmological analyses. We validate our measurements by showing that B-modes, parity-violating contributions and PSF modeling uncertainties are negligible, and determine that the measured signals are likely to be of astrophysical and gravitational origin.

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arXiv2022

Milky Way Satellite Census. IV. Constraints on Decaying Dark Matter from Observations of Milky Way Satellite Galaxies

We use a recent census of the Milky Way (MW) satellite galaxy population to constrain the lifetime of particle dark matter (DM). We consider two-body decaying dark matter (DDM) in which a heavy DM particle decays with lifetime $τ$ comparable to the age of the Universe to a lighter DM particle (with mass splitting $ε$) and to a dark radiation species. These decays impart a characteristic "kick velocity," $V_{\mathrm{kick}}=εc$, on the DM daughter particles, significantly depleting the DM content of low-mass subhalos and making them more susceptible to tidal disruption. We fit the suppression of the present-day DDM subhalo mass function (SHMF) as a function of $τ$ and $V_{\mathrm{kick}}$ using a suite of high-resolution zoom-in simulations of MW-mass halos, and we validate this model on new DDM simulations of systems specifically chosen to resemble the MW. We implement our DDM SHMF predictions in a forward model that incorporates inhomogeneities in the spatial distribution and detectability of MW satellites and uncertainties in the mapping between galaxies and DM halos, the properties of the MW system, and the disruption of subhalos by the MW disk using an empirical model for the galaxy--halo connection. By comparing to the observed MW satellite population, we conservatively exclude DDM models with $τ< 18\ \mathrm{Gyr}$ ($29\ \mathrm{Gyr}$) for $V_{\mathrm{kick}}=20\ \mathrm{km}\, \mathrm{s}^{-1}$ ($40\ \mathrm{km}\, \mathrm{s}^{-1}$) at $95\%$ confidence. These constraints are among the most stringent and robust small-scale structure limits on the DM particle lifetime and strongly disfavor DDM models that have been proposed to alleviate the Hubble and $S_8$ tensions.

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arXiv2022

Velocity Dispersions of Clusters in the Dark Energy Survey Y3 redMaPPer Catalog

We measure the velocity dispersions of clusters of galaxies selected by the redMaPPer algorithm in the first three years of data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), allowing us to probe cluster selection and richness estimation, $λ$, in light of cluster dynamics. Our sample consists of 126 clusters with sufficient spectroscopy for individual velocity dispersion estimates. We examine the correlations between cluster velocity dispersion, richness, X-ray temperature and luminosity as well as central galaxy velocity offsets. The velocity dispersion-richness relation exhibits a bimodal distribution. The majority of clusters follow scaling relations between velocity dispersion, richness, and X-ray properties similar to those found for previous samples; however, there is a significant population of clusters with velocity dispersions which are high for their richness. These clusters account for roughly 22\% of the $λ< 70$ systems in our sample, but more than half (55\%) of $λ< 70$ clusters at $z>0.5$. A couple of these systems are hot and X-ray bright as expected for massive clusters with richnesses that appear to have been underestimated, but most appear to have high velocity dispersions for their X-ray properties likely due to line-of-sight structure. These results suggest that projection effects contribute significantly to redMaPPer selection, particularly at higher redshifts and lower richnesses. The redMaPPer determined richnesses for the velocity dispersion outliers are consistent with their X-ray properties, but several are X-ray undetected and deeper data is needed to understand their nature.

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arXiv2022

A DECam Search for Explosive Optical Transients Associated with IceCube Neutrinos

In this work, we investigate the likelihood of association between realtime, TeV-PeV energy neutrino alerts from IceCube and optical counterparts in the form of core-collapse supernovae (CC SNe). The optical follow-up of IceCube alerts requires two main instrumental capabilities: (1) deep imaging, since 73\% of neutrinos would come from CC SNe at redshifts $z > 0.3$, and (2) a large field of view (FoV), since typical IceCube muon neutrino pointing accuracy is on the order of $\sim1$~deg. With Blanco/DECam ($gri$ to 24th magnitude and $2.2$~deg diameter FoV), we performed a triggered optical follow-up observation of two IceCube alerts, IC170922A and IC171106A on $\sim6$~nights during the $\sim3$~weeks following each alert. For the IC170922A (IC171106A) follow-up observations, we expect that 12.1\% (9.5\%) of coincident CC SNe at $z \lesssim 0.3$ are detectable, and that on average, 0.23 (0.07) unassociated SNe in the neutrino 90\% containment regions also pass our selection criteria. We find two candidate CC SNe that are temporally coincident with the neutrino alerts in the FoV, but none in the 90\% containment regions, which is statistically consistent with expected rates of background CC SNe for these observations. If CC SNe are the dominant source of TeV-PeV neutrinos, we would expect an excess of coincident CC SNe to be detectable at the $3σ$ confidence level using DECam observations similar to those of this work for $\sim60$ ($\sim200$) neutrino alerts with (without) redshift information for all candidates.

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arXiv2022

Constraints on the Physical Properties of GW190814 through Simulations based on DECam Follow-up Observations by the Dark Energy Survey

On 14 August 2019, the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations detected gravitational waves from a black hole and a 2.6 solar mass compact object, possibly the first neutron star -- black hole (NSBH) merger. In search of an optical counterpart, the Dark Energy Survey (DES) obtained deep imaging of the entire 90 percent confidence level localization area with Blanco/DECam 0, 1, 2, 3, 6, and 16 nights after the merger. Objects with varying brightness were detected by the DES Pipeline and we systematically reduced the candidate counterparts through catalog matching, light curve properties, host-galaxy photometric redshifts, SOAR spectroscopic follow-up observations, and machine-learning-based photometric classification. All candidates were rejected as counterparts to the merger. To quantify the sensitivity of our search, we applied our selection criteria to full light curve simulations of supernovae and kilonovae as they would appear in the DECam observations. Since the source class of the merger was uncertain, we utilized an agnostic, three-component kilonova model based on tidally-disrupted NS ejecta properties to quantify our detection efficiency of a counterpart if the merger included a NS. We find that if a kilonova occurred during this merger, configurations where the ejected matter is greater than 0.07 solar masses, has lanthanide abundance less than $10^{-8.56}$, and has a velocity between $0.18c$ and $0.21c$ are disfavored at the $2σ$ level. Furthermore, we estimate that our background reduction methods are capable of associating gravitational wave signals with a detected electromagnetic counterpart at the $4σ$ level in $95\%$ of future follow-up observations.

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arXiv2022

The DECam Local Volume Exploration Survey Data Release 2

We present the second public data release (DR2) from the DECam Local Volume Exploration survey (DELVE). DELVE DR2 combines new DECam observations with archival DECam data from the Dark Energy Survey, the DECam Legacy Survey, and other DECam community programs. DELVE DR2 consists of ~160,000 exposures that cover >21,000 deg^2 of the high Galactic latitude (|b| > 10 deg) sky in four broadband optical/near-infrared filters (g, r, i, z). DELVE DR2 provides point-source and automatic aperture photometry for ~2.5 billion astronomical sources with a median 5σ point-source depth of g=24.3, r=23.9, i=23.5, and z=22.8 mag. A region of ~17,000 deg^2 has been imaged in all four filters, providing four-band photometric measurements for ~618 million astronomical sources. DELVE DR2 covers more than four times the area of the previous DELVE data release and contains roughly five times as many astronomical objects. DELVE DR2 is publicly available via the NOIRLab Astro Data Lab science platform.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: Weak Lensing Shape Catalogue

We present and characterise the galaxy shape catalogue from the first 3 years of Dark Energy Survey (DES) observations, over an effective area of ~4143 deg$^2$ of the southern sky. We describe our data analysis process and our self-calibrating shear measurement pipeline METACALIBRATION, which builds and improves upon the pipeline used in the DES Year 1 analysis in several aspects. The DES Year 3 weak-lensing shape catalogue consists of 100,204,026 galaxies, measured in the $riz$ bands, resulting in a weighted source number density of $n_{\rm eff} = 5.59$ gal/arcmin$ ^{2}$ and corresponding shape noise $σ_e = 0.261$. We perform a battery of internal null tests on the catalogue, including tests on systematics related to the point-spread function (PSF) modelling, spurious catalogue B-mode signals, catalogue contamination, and galaxy properties.

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arXiv2022

Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: Point-Spread Function Modeling

We introduce a new software package for modeling the point-spread function (PSF) of astronomical images, called Piff (PSFs In the Full FOV), which we apply to the first three years (known as Y3) of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) data. We describe the relevant details about the algorithms used by Piff to model the PSF, including how the PSF model varies across the field of view (FOV). Diagnostic results show that the systematic errors from the PSF modeling are very small over the range of scales that are important for the DES Y3 weak lensing analysis. In particular, the systematic errors from the PSF modeling are significantly smaller than the corresponding results from the DES year one (Y1) analysis. We also briefly describe some planned improvements to Piff that we expect to further reduce the modeling errors in future analyses.

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arXiv2022

Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: Deep Field Optical + Near-Infrared Images and Catalogue

We describe the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Deep Fields, a set of images and associated multi-wavelength catalogue ($ugrizJHKs$) built from Dark Energy Camera (DECam) and Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) data. The DES Deep Fields comprise 11 fields (10 DES supernova fields plus COSMOS), with a total area of $\sim30~$ square degrees in $ugriz$ bands and reaching a maximum $i$-band depth of 26.75 (AB, $10σ$, 2 arcsec). We present a catalogue for the DES 3-year cosmology analysis of those four fields with full 8-band coverage, totalling $5.88~$ sq. deg. after masking. Numbering $2.8~$million objects ($1.6~$million post masking), our catalogue is drawn from images coadded to consistent depths of $r=25.7, i=25, z=24.3$ mag. We use a new model-fitting code, built upon established methods, to deblend sources and ensure consistent colours across the $u$-band to $Ks$-band wavelength range. We further detail the tight control we maintain over the point-spread function modelling required for the model fitting, astrometry and consistency of photometry between the four fields. The catalogue allows us to perform a careful star-galaxy separation and produces excellent photometric redshift performance (${\rm NMAD} = 0.023$ at $i<23$). The Deep-Fields catalogue will be made available as part of the cosmology data products release, following the completion of the DES 3-year weak lensing and galaxy clustering cosmology work.

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arXiv2022

Cosmological Constraints from DES Y1 Cluster Abundances and SPT Multi-wavelength data

We perform a joint analysis of the counts of redMaPPer clusters selected from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Y1 data and multi-wavelength follow-up data collected within the 2500 deg$^2$ South Pole Telescope (SPT) SZ survey. The SPT follow-up data, calibrating the richness--mass relation of the optically selected redMaPPer catalog, enable the cosmological exploitation of the DES cluster abundance data. To explore possible systematics related to the modeling of projection effects, we consider two calibrations of the observational scatter on richness estimates: a simple Gaussian model which account only for the background contamination (BKG), and a model which further includes contamination and incompleteness due to projection effects (PRJ). Assuming either a $Λ$CDM+$\sum m_ν$ or $w$CDM+$\sum m_ν$ cosmology, and for both scatter models, we derive cosmological constraints consistent with multiple cosmological probes of the low and high redshift Universe, and in particular with the SPT cluster abundance data. This result demonstrates that the DES Y1 and SPT cluster counts provide consistent cosmological constraints, if the same mass calibration data set is adopted. It thus supports the conclusion of the DES Y1 cluster cosmology analysis which interprets the tension observed with other cosmological probes in terms of systematics affecting the stacked weak lensing analysis of optically--selected low--richness clusters. Finally, we analyse the first combined optically-SZ selected cluster catalogue obtained by including the SPT sample above the maximum redshift probed by the DES Y1 redMaPPer sample. Besides providing a mild improvement of the cosmological constraints, this data combination serves as a stricter test of our scatter models: the PRJ model, providing scaling relations consistent between the two abundance and multi-wavelength follow-up data, is favored over the BKG model.

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arXiv2022

From the Fire: A Deeper Look at the Phoenix Stream

We use six years of data from the Dark Energy Survey to perform a detailed photometric characterization of the Phoenix stellar stream, a 15-degree long, thin, dynamically cold, low-metallicity stellar system in the southern hemisphere. We use natural splines, a non-parametric modeling technique, to simultaneously fit the stream track, width, and linear density. This updated stream model allows us to improve measurements of the heliocentric distance ($17.4 \pm 0.1\,{\rm (stat.)} \pm 0.8\,{\rm (sys.)}$ kpc) and distance gradient ($-0.009 \pm 0.006$ kpc deg$^{-1}$) of Phoenix, which corresponds to a small change of $0.13 \pm 0.09$ kpc in heliocentric distance along the length of the stream. We measure linear intensity variations on degree scales, as well as deviations in the stream track on $\sim 2$-degree scales, suggesting that the stream may have been disturbed during its formation and/or evolution. We recover three peaks and one gap in linear intensity along with fluctuations in the stream track. Compared to other thin streams, the Phoenix stream shows more fluctuations and, consequently, the study of Phoenix offers a unique perspective on gravitational perturbations of stellar streams. We discuss possible sources of perturbations to Phoenix including baryonic structures in the Galaxy and dark matter subhalos.

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arXiv2022

The Evolution of AGN Activity in Brightest Cluster Galaxies

We present the results of an analysis of Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) observations on the full 2500 deg^2 South Pole Telescope (SPT)-SZ cluster sample. We describe a process for identifying active galactic nuclei (AGN) in brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) based on WISE mid-infrared color and redshift. Applying this technique to the BCGs of the SPT-SZ sample, we calculate the AGN-hosting BCG fraction, which is defined as the fraction of BCGs hosting bright central AGNs over all possible BCGs. Assuming {\bf an evolving} single-burst stellar population model, we find statistically significant evidence (>99.9%) for a mid-IR excess at high redshift compared to low redshift, suggesting that the fraction of AGN-hosting BCGs increases with redshift over the range of 0 < z < 1.3. The best-fit redshift trend of the AGN-hosting BCG fraction has the form (1+z)^(4.1+/-1.0). These results are consistent with previous studies in galaxy clusters as well as field galaxies. One way to explain this result is that member galaxies at high redshift tend to have more cold gas. While BCGs in nearby galaxy clusters grow mostly by dry mergers with cluster members, leading to no increase in AGN activity, BCGs at high redshift could primarily merge with gas-rich satellites, providing fuel for feeding AGNs. If this observed increase in AGN activity is linked to gas-rich mergers, rather than ICM cooling, we would expect to see an increase in scatter in the P_cav vs L_cool relation at z > 1. Lastly, this work confirms that the runaway cooling phase, as predicted by the classical cooling flow model, in the Phoenix cluster is extremely rare and most BCGs have low (relative to Eddington) black hole accretion rates.

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arXiv2022

DES Y3 results: Blending shear and redshift biases in image simulations

As the statistical power of galaxy weak lensing reaches percent level precision, large, realistic and robust simulations are required to calibrate observational systematics, especially given the increased importance of object blending as survey depths increase. To capture the coupled effects of blending in both shear and photometric redshift calibration, we define the effective redshift distribution for lensing, $n_γ(z)$, and describe how to estimate it using image simulations. We use an extensive suite of tailored image simulations to characterize the performance of the shear estimation pipeline applied to the Dark Energy Survey (DES) Year 3 dataset. We describe the multi-band, multi-epoch simulations, and demonstrate their high level of realism through comparisons to the real DES data. We isolate the effects that generate shear calibration biases by running variations on our fiducial simulation, and find that blending-related effects are the dominant contribution to the mean multiplicative bias of approximately $-2\%$. By generating simulations with input shear signals that vary with redshift, we calibrate biases in our estimation of the effective redshfit distribution, and demonstrate the importance of this approach when blending is present. We provide corrected effective redshift distributions that incorporate statistical and systematic uncertainties, ready for use in DES Year 3 weak lensing analyses.

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arXiv2022

Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: Measuring the Survey Transfer Function with Balrog

We describe an updated calibration and diagnostic framework, Balrog, used to directly sample the selection and photometric biases of the Dark Energy Survey's (DES) Year 3 (Y3) dataset. We systematically inject onto the single-epoch images of a random 20% subset of the DES footprint an ensemble of nearly 30 million realistic galaxy models derived from DES Deep Field observations. These augmented images are analyzed in parallel with the original data to automatically inherit measurement systematics that are often too difficult to capture with traditional generative models. The resulting object catalog is a Monte Carlo sampling of the DES transfer function and is used as a powerful diagnostic and calibration tool for a variety of DES Y3 science, particularly for the calibration of the photometric redshifts of distant "source" galaxies and magnification biases of nearer "lens" galaxies. The recovered Balrog injections are shown to closely match the photometric property distributions of the Y3 GOLD catalog, particularly in color, and capture the number density fluctuations from observing conditions of the real data within 1% for a typical galaxy sample. We find that Y3 colors are extremely well calibrated, typically within ~1-8 millimagnitudes, but for a small subset of objects we detect significant magnitude biases correlated with large overestimates of the injected object size due to proximity effects and blending. We discuss approaches to extend the current methodology to capture more aspects of the transfer function and reach full coverage of the survey footprint for future analyses.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2022

The DES Bright Arcs Survey: Candidate Strongly Lensed Galaxy Systems from the Dark Energy Survey 5,000 Sq. Deg. Footprint

We report the combined results of eight searches for strong gravitational lens systems in the full 5,000 sq. deg. of Dark Energy Survey (DES) observations. The observations accumulated by the end of the third observing season fully covered the DES footprint in 5 filters (grizY), with an $i-$band limiting magnitude (at $10σ$) of 23.44. In four searches, a list of potential candidates was identified using a color and magnitude selection from the object catalogs created from the first three observing seasons. Three other searches were conducted at the locations of previously identified galaxy clusters. Cutout images of potential candidates were then visually scanned using an object viewer. An additional set of candidates came from a data-quality check of a subset of the color-coadd "tiles" created from the full DES six-season data set. A short list of the most promising strong lens candidates was then numerically ranked according to whether or not we judged them to be bona fide strong gravitational lens systems. These searches discovered a diverse set of 247 strong lens candidate systems, of which 81 are identified for the first time. We provide the coordinates, magnitudes, and photometric properties of the lens and source objects, and an estimate of the Einstein radius for 81 new systems and 166 previously reported. This catalog will be of use for selecting interesting systems for detailed follow-up, studies of galaxy cluster and group mass profiles, as well as a training/validation set for automated strong lens searches.

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