The High-Redshift Clusters Occupied by Bent Radio AGN (COBRA) Survey

We are conducting a survey of distant clusters of galaxies (0.5 < z < 3.0) using bent, double-lobed radio sources driven by AGN as tracers. These types of radio sources are easily detected in the ~10,000 square degree VLA FIRST survey to large distances and are frequently found in clusters since interaction with a surrounding intracluster medium (ICM) can create the ram pressure necessary to bend the radio lobes. The sources can be found in a range of cluster environments, from large-scale cluster-cluster mergers, to more relaxed clusters that include sloshing of the ICM. The bending of the radio lobes enables an estimate of the flows present in the ICM. Unlike many other cluster surveys that are biased towards the most massive clusters, our clusters span a wide mass range. Our high-z COBRA sample includes 646 radio sources, all of which have follow-up Spitzer infrared observations. In addition, we have deep optical imaging for a significant subset of the sample. Based on our multi-wavelength analysis, we confirm that approximately 200 of the targets are clusters, with most of the remainder groups. We present our survey as well as the significant detection of a subset of our clusters in the X-ray using observations with Chandra and XMM-Newton. In addition, we put these sources in context with other bent radio sources found in X-ray cluster environments.