Strazzullo, V.V.StrazzulloDaddi, E.E.DaddiGobat, R.R.GobatGARILLI, BIANCA MARIA ROSABIANCA MARIA ROSAGARILLIMIGNOLI, MarcoMarcoMIGNOLIValentino, F.F.ValentinoOnodera, M.M.OnoderaRenzini, A.A.RenziniCimatti, A.A.CimattiFinoguenov, A.A.FinoguenovArimoto, N.N.ArimotoCappellari, M.M.CappellariCarollo, C. M.C. M.CarolloFeruglio, C.C.FeruglioLe Floc'h, E.E.Le Floc'hLilly, S. J.S. J.LillyMaccagni, D.D.MaccagniMcCracken, H. J.H. J.McCrackenMoresco, M.M.MorescoPOZZETTI, LuciaLuciaPOZZETTIZamorani, G.G.Zamorani2020-03-132020-03-1320150004-6361http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/23233We thank M. Pannella and A. Saro for helpful input. V.S., E.D., R.G., and F.V. were supported by grants ERC-StG UPGAL 240039 and ANR-08-JCJC-0008. A.C. and M.M. acknowledge grants ASI n.I/023/12/0 and MIUR PRIN 2010-2011 “The dark Universe and the cosmic evolution of baryons; from current surveys to Euclid”. Based on observations from ESO Telescopes under program IDs 086.A-0681, 088.A-0671, LP175.A-0839, and 179.A-2005.Even 10 billion years ago, the cores of the first galaxy clusters are often found to host a characteristic population of massive galaxies with already suppressed star formation. Here we search for distant cluster candidates at z ~ 2 using massive passive galaxies as tracers. With a sample of ~40 spectroscopically confirmed passive galaxies at 1.3 < z < 2.1, we tuned photometric redshifts of several thousand passive sources in the 2 sq. deg COSMOS field. This allowed us to map their density in redshift slices, probing the large-scale structure in the COSMOS field as traced by passive sources. We report here on the three strongest passive galaxy overdensities that we identify in the range 1.5 < z < 2.5. While the actual nature of these concentrations still needs to be confirmed, we discuss their identification procedure and the arguments supporting them as candidate galaxy clusters (probably in the mid-10<SUP>13</SUP> M<SUB>☉</SUB> range). Although this search approach is probably biased toward more evolved structures, it has the potential of selecting still rare, cluster-like environments close to their epoch of first appearance, enabling new investigations of the evolution of galaxies in the context of structure growth.STAMPAenArticle10.1051/0004-6361/2014250382-s2.0-84926137549000357274600077https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2015/04/aa25038-14/aa25038-14.html2015A&A...576L...6SFIS/05 - ASTRONOMIA E ASTROFISICA