The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey: SZ effect Verification
  with the Atacama Compact Array -- Localization and Cluster Analysis
  The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey (MaDCoWS) provides a catalog
of high-redshift ($0.7\lesssim z\lesssim 1.5$) infrared-selected galaxy
clusters. However, the verification of the ionized intracluster medium,
indicative of a collapsed and nearly virialized system, is made challenging by
the high redshifts of the sample members. The main goal of this work is to test
the capabilities of the Atacama Compact Array (ACA; also known as the Morita
Array) Band 3 observations, centered at about 97.5 GHz, to provide robust
validation of cluster detections via the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect.
Using a pilot sample that comprises ten MaDCoWS galaxy clusters, accessible to
ACA and representative of the median sample richness, we infer the masses of
the selected galaxy clusters and respective detection significance by means of
a Bayesian analysis of the interferometric data. Our test of the "Verification
with the ACA - Localization and Cluster Analysis" (VACA LoCA) program
demonstrates that the ACA can robustly confirm the presence of the virialized
intracluster medium in galaxy clusters previously identified in full-sky
surveys. In particular, we obtain a significant detection of the SZ effect for
seven out of the ten VACA LoCA clusters. We note that this result is
independent of the assumed pressure profile. However, the limited angular
dynamic range of the ACA in Band 3 alone, short observational integration
times, and possible contamination from unresolved sources limit the detailed
characterization of the cluster properties and the inference of the cluster
masses within scales appropriate for the robust calibration of mass-richness
scaling relations.
