|
Description
This table contains a catalog of 3405 X-ray sources from the ROSAT All Sky Survey (RASS) Bright Source Catalog which fall within the area covered by the 6dF Galaxy Survey (6dFGS). The catalog is count-rate limited at 0.05 ct s<sup>-1</sup> in the X-ray and covers the area of sky with Declination < 0 degrees and |b| > 10 degrees. The RASS-6dFGS sample was one of the additional target catalogs of the 6dFGS and as a result the authors obtained optical spectra for 2224 (65 per cent) RASS sources. Of these, 1715 (77%) have reliable redshifts with a median redshift of z = 0.16 (excluding the Galactic sources). For the optically bright sources (b_J <= 17.5) in the observed sample, over 90% have reliable redshifts. The catalog mainly comprises quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) and active galaxies but also includes 238 Galactic sources. Of the sources with reliable redshifts, the majority are type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGN, 69%), while 12% are type 2 AGN, 6% absorption-line galaxies and 13% are stars. The authors also identify a small number of optically faint, very low redshift, compact objects which fall outside the general trend in the b_J - z plane. The RASS-6dFGS catalog complements a number of Northern hemisphere samples, particularly the ROSAT Bright Source Catalogue-NRAO VLA Sky Survey (RBSC-NVSS) sample (Bauer et al. 2000, ApJS, 129, 547), and furthermore, in the same region of sky (-40 degrees < Declination < 0 degrees) reveals an additional 561 sources that were not identified as part of that sample. The authors detect 918 sources (27%) of the RASS-6dFGS sample in the radio using either the 1.4 GHz NVSS or the 843 MHz Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey (SUMSS) catalogues and find that the detection rate changes with redshift. At redshifts larger than 1 virtually all of these sources have radio counterparts and with a median flux density of 1.15 Jy, they are much stronger than the median flux density of 28.6 mJy for the full sample. The authors attribute this to the fact that the X-ray flux of these objects is being boosted by a jet component, possibly Doppler boosted, that is only present in radio-loud AGN. The RASS-6dFGS sample provides a large set of homogeneous optical spectra ideal for future studies of X-ray emitting AGN. This table was created by the HEASARC in April 2010 based on an electronic version of Table 3 from the reference paper obtained from the MNRAS web site. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .
|
