A SPITZER-SELECTED GALAXY CLUSTER AT z = 1.62*

We report the discovery of a galaxy cluster at z = 1.62 located in the Spitzer Wide-Area Infrared Extragalactic survey XMM-LSS field. This structure was selected solely as an overdensity of galaxies with red Spitzer/Infrared Array Camera colors, satisfying ([3.6] - [4.5]){sub AB}> - 0.1 mag. Photometric redshifts derived from the Subaru XMM Deep Survey (BViz bands), the UKIRT Infrared Deep Survey-Ultra-Deep Survey (UKIDSS-UDS, JK bands), and from the Spitzer Public UDS survey (3.6-8.0 {mu}m) show that this cluster corresponds to a surface density of galaxies at z {approx} 1.6 that is >20{sigma} above the mean at this redshift. We obtained optical spectroscopic observations of galaxies in the cluster region using IMACS on the Magellan telescope. We measured redshifts for seven galaxies in the range z = 1.62-1.63 within 2.8 arcmin ( 1.7 mag. The photometric-redshift probability distributionsmore » for the red galaxies are strongly peaked at z = 1.62, coincident with the spectroscopically confirmed galaxies. The rest-frame (U - B) color and scatter of galaxies on the red sequence are consistent with a mean luminosity-weighted age of 1.2 {+-} 0.1 Gyr, yielding a formation redshift z-bar{sub f}=2.35{+-}0.10, and corresponding to the last significant star formation period in these galaxies.« less