The Las Campanas Distant Cluster Survey: The catalog

We present an optically selected catalog of 1073 galaxy cluster and group c andidates at 0.3 less than or similar to z less than or similar to 1. These candidates are drawn from the Las Campanas Distant Clusters Survey (LCDCS) , a drift-scan imaging survey of a 130 square degree strip of the southern sky. To construct this catalog we utilize a novel detection process in whic h clusters are detected as positive surface brightness fluctuations in the background sky. This approach permits us to find clusters with significantl y shallower data than other matched-filter methods that are based upon numb er counts of resolved galaxies. Selection criteria for the survey are fully automated so that this sample constitutes a well-defined, homogeneous samp le that can be used to address issues of cluster evolution and cosmology. E stimated redshifts are derived for the entire sample, and an observed corre lation between surface brightness and velocity dispersion, sigma, is used t o estimate the limiting velocity dispersion of the survey as a function of redshift. We find a net surface density of 15.5 candidates per square degre e at z(est) greater than or equal to 0.3, with a false-detection rate of si milar to 30%. At z similar to 0.3 we probe down to the level of poor groups while by z similar to 0.8 we detect only the most massive systems (sigma g reater than or similar to 1000 km s(-1)). We also present a supplemental ca talog of 112 candidates that fail one or more of the automated selection cr iteria, but appear from visual inspection to be bona fide clusters.