- ID:
- ivo://nasa.heasarc/noras
- Title:
- Northern ROSAT All-Sky (NORAS) Galaxy Cluster Survey Catalog
- Short Name:
- NORASGalClus
- Date:
- 14 Mar 2025
- Publisher:
- NASA/GSFC HEASARC
- Description:
- In the construction of an X-ray-selected sample of galaxy clusters for cosmological studies, the authors have assembled a sample of 495 X-ray sources which were found to show extended X-ray emission in the first processing of the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS I), the Northern ROSAT All-Sky (NORAS) Galaxy Cluster Survey Catalog. The sample covers the celestial region with declination >=0 degrees and Galactic latitude |b| >= 20 degrees, and comprises sources with a Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) count rate >= 0.06 counts/s and a source extent likelihood of L >= 7. In an optical follow-up identification program, the authors found 378 (76%) of these sources to be clusters of galaxies. It was necessary to reanalyze the sources in this sample with a new X-ray source characterization technique to provide more precise values for the X-ray flux and source extent than obtained from the standard processing. This new method, termed growth curve analysis (GCA), has the advantage over previous methods in its ability to be robust, to be easy to model and to integrate into simulations, to provide diagnostic plots for visual inspection, and to make extensive use of the X-ray data. The source parameters obtained assist the source identification and provide more precise X-ray fluxes. This reanalysis is based on data from the more recent second processing of the ROSAT Survey, RASS II. The authors present a catalog of the cluster sources with the X-ray properties obtained as well as a list of the previously flagged extended sources that are found to have a non-cluster counterpart. In their paper, they discuss the process of source identification from the combination of optical and X-ray data. To investigate the overall completeness of the cluster sample as a function of the X-ray flux limit, they extended the search for X-ray cluster sources to the RASS II data for the northern sky region between 9 and 14 hours in right ascension. They included the search for X-ray emission from known galaxy clusters as well as a new investigation of extended X-ray sources. In the course of this search, they found X-ray emission from 85 additional Abell clusters and 56 very probable cluster candidates among the newly found extended sources. A comparison of the X-ray cluster number counts of the NORAS sample with the ROSAT-ESO Flux-limited X-ray (REFLEX) Cluster Survey results leads to an estimate of the completeness of the NORAS sample of ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) I extended clusters of about 50% at an X-ray flux of FX(0.1-2.4 keV) = 3 x 10-12 ergs s<sup>-1</sup> cm<sup>-2</sup>. The estimated completeness achieved by adding the supplementary sample in the study area amounts to about 82% in comparison to REFLEX. The low completeness introduces an uncertainty in the use of the sample for cosmological statistical studies that will be cured with the completion of the continuing Northern ROSAT All-Sky (NORAS) Cluster Survey project. This table was created by the HEASARC in June 2005 based on CDS table J/ApJS/129/435, table1.dat through table9.dat inclusive. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .
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- ID:
- ivo://nasa.heasarc/rassebcs
- Title:
- ROSAT All-Sky Survey Extended Brightest Cluster Sample
- Short Name:
- RASSBCS
- Date:
- 14 Mar 2025
- Publisher:
- NASA/GSFC HEASARC
- Description:
- This table contains the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) Brightest Cluster Sample (BCS) and the Low-Flux Extension, which together form the Extended BCS (eBCS). The main BCS, which was presented in Ebeling et al. (1998, MNRAS, 301, 881; Paper I), is a 90% flux-complete sample of the 201 X-ray-brightest clusters of galaxies in the northern hemisphere (Dec >=0 degrees), at high Galactic latitudes (|b| >= 20 degrees), with measured redshifts z <= 0.3 and X-ray fluxes higher than 4.4 x 10<sup>-12</sup> erg/cm<sup>2</sup>/s in the 0.1 - 2.4 keV band. This sample, called the ROSAT Brightest Cluster Sample, is selected from RASS data and is the largest X-ray-selected cluster sample compiled to the publication date (1998). In addition to Abell clusters which form the bulk of the sample, the BCS also contains the X-ray-brightest Zwicky clusters and other clusters selected from their X-ray properties alone. Effort has been made to ensure the highest possible completeness of the sample and the smallest possible contamination by non-cluster X-ray sources. X-ray fluxes were computed using an algorithm tailored for the detection and characterization of X-ray emission from galaxy clusters. These fluxes are accurate to better than 15% (mean 1-sigma error). The low-flux extension of the X-ray-selected ROSAT Brightest Cluster Sample was published in Ebeling et al. (2000, MNRAS, 318, 333; Paper IV). Like the original BCS and employing an identical selection procedure, the BCS extension is compiled from ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) data in the northern hemisphere (Dec >=0 degrees) and at high Galactic latitudes (|b| >= 20 degrees). It comprises 99 X-ray-selected clusters of galaxies with measured redshifts z <= 0.3 (as well as eight more at z > 0.3) and total fluxes between 2.8 x 10<sup>-12</sup> and 4.4 x 10<sup>-12</sup> erg/cm<sup>2</sup>/s in the 0.1 - 2.4keV band (the latter value being the flux limit of the original BCS). The extension can be combined (as it has been in this HEASARC table) with the main sample published in 1998 to form the homogeneously selected extended BCS (eBCS), the largest and statistically best understood cluster sample to emerge from the RASS to date. The nominal completeness of the combined sample (defined with respect to a power-law fit to the bright end of the BCS log N -log S distribution) is relatively low at 75% (compared with 90% for the high-flux sample of Paper I). However, just as for the original BCS, this incompleteness can be accurately quantified, and thus statistically corrected for, as a function of X-ray luminosity and redshift. In addition to its importance for improved statistical studies of the properties of clusters in the local Universe, the low-flux extension of the BCS is also intended to serve as a finding list for X-ray-bright clusters in the northern hemisphere which the authors hoped will prove useful in the preparation of cluster observations to be made with the next generation of X-ray telescopes such as Chandra and XMM-Newton. This table was created by the HEASARC in August 2005 based on the merger of 2 CDS tables, J/MNRAS/301/881/table3.dat.gz (the main sample) and J/MNRAS/318/333/table1.dat.gz (the low-flux extension). This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .
- ID:
- ivo://nasa.heasarc/reflex
- Title:
- ROSAT-ESO Flux-Limited X-Ray (REFLEX) Galaxy Cluster Survey
- Short Name:
- ROSAT/ESOClus.
- Date:
- 14 Mar 2025
- Publisher:
- NASA/GSFC HEASARC
- Description:
- This table is the ROSAT-ESO Flux-Limited X-Ray (REFLEX) Galaxy Cluster Survey Catalog. The REFLEX Cluster Survey provides information on the X-ray properties, redshifts, and some identification details of clusters in the REFLEX sample. The catalog describes a statistically complete X-ray flux-limited sample of 447 galaxy clusters above an X-ray flux of 3 x 10<sup>-12</sup> erg/s/cm<sup>2</sup> (0.1 to 2.4 keV) in an area of 4.24 steradians in the southern sky. The cluster candidates were first selected by their X-ray emission in the ROSAT-All Sky Survey and subsequently spectroscopically identified in the frame of an ESO key program. Previously described tests have shown that the sample is more than 90% complete and there is a conservative upper limit of 9% on the fraction of clusters with a dominant X-ray contamination from AGN. This data set is at present the largest, statistically complete X-ray galaxy cluster sample. The sample forms the basis of several cosmological studies, one of the most important applications being the assessment of the statistics of the large-scale structure of the universe and the test of cosmological models. The X-ray luminosities and other distance-dependent cluster parameters are calculated for a Lambda cosmology with a Hubble Constant H<sub>0</sub> of 70 km/s/Mpc, Omega<sub>M</sub> of 0.3, and Omega<sub>Lambda</sub> of 0.7. The CDS version of this catalog contains an additional table (reflex50.dat) with these parameters calculated for an Einstein-de Sitter universe with H<sub>0</sub> = 50 km/s/Mpc, Omega<sub>M</sub> = 1.0, and Omega<sub>Lambda</sub> = 0.0. This table was created by the HEASARC in October 2004 based on CDS tables J/A+A/425/367/reflex70.dat and J/A+A/425/367/reflex.dat. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .
- ID:
- ivo://nasa.heasarc/rosgalclus
- Title:
- ROSAT PSPC Catalog of Clusters of Galaxies
- Short Name:
- ROSAT/Clust.
- Date:
- 14 Mar 2025
- Publisher:
- NASA/GSFC HEASARC
- Description:
- This is a catalog of 203 clusters of galaxies serendipitously detected in 647 ROSAT PSPC high Galactic latitude pointings covering 158 square degrees. This is one of the largest X-ray-selected cluster samples, comparable in size only to the ROSAT All-Sky Survey sample of nearby clusters (Ebeling et al. 1997). Clusters in the inner 17.'5 of the ROSAT PSPC field of view are detected using the spatial extent of their X-ray emission. Fluxes of detected clusters range from 1.6 x 10<sup>-14</sup> to 8 x 10<sup>-12</sup> ergs s<sup>-1</sup> cm<sup>-2</sup> in the 0.5-2 keV energy band. X-ray luminosities range from 10<sup>42</sup> ergs s<sup>-1</sup>, corresponding to very poor groups, to ~5 x 10<sup>44</sup> ergs s<sup>-1</sup>, corresponding to rich clusters. The cluster redshifts range from z = 0.015 to z > 0.5. The catalog lists X-ray fluxes, core radii, and spectroscopic redshifts for 73 clusters and photometric redshifts for the remainder. Of 223 X-ray sources, 203 have been optically confirmed as clusters of galaxies. Of the remaining 20 sources, 19 are likely false detections arising from blends of unresolved point X-ray sources. Optical identifications of the remaining object are hampered by a nearby bright star. Above a flux of 2 x 10<sup>-13</sup> ergs s<sup>-1</sup> cm<sup>-2</sup>, 98% of extended X-ray sources are optically confirmed clusters. The number of false detections and their flux distribution are in perfect agreement with simulations. The log N-log S relation for clusters derived from this catalog shows excellent agreement with counts of bright clusters derived from the Einstein Extended Medium Sensitivity Survey and the ROSAT All-Sky Survey. At fainter fluxes, its log N-log S relation agrees with the smaller area WARPS survey. The cluster counts appear to be systematically higher than those from a 50 square degree survey by Rosati et al. This database was created by the HEASARC in December 2001 based on the CDS/ADC catalog J/ApJ/502/558/ (table3.dat). This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .
- ID:
- ivo://nasa.heasarc/warps
- Title:
- Wide Angle ROSAT Pointed Survey, First Phase (WARPS-I)
- Short Name:
- ROSAT/WARPS
- Date:
- 14 Mar 2025
- Publisher:
- NASA/GSFC HEASARC
- Description:
- The Wide Angle ROSAT Pointed Survey, First Phase (WARPS-I) table is a catalog which contains optical identifications for objects found in a serendipitous survey of relatively deep, pointed ROSAT observations for clusters of galaxies. The X-ray source detection algorithm used by WARPS is Voronoi Tessellation and Percolation (VTP), a technique which is equally sensitive to point sources and to extended sources of low surface brightness. WARPS-I is based on the central regions of 86 ROSAT PSPC fields, covering an area of 16.2 square degrees. The X-ray source screening and optical identification process for WARPS-I yielded 34 clusters at 0.06<z<0.75. Twenty-two of these clusters form a complete, statistically well-defined sample drawn from 75 of these 86 fields, covering an area of 14.1 square degrees, with a flux limit of F(0.5-2.0keV) = 6.5x10<sup>-14</sup> erg/cm<sup>2</sup>/s. This sample can be used to study the properties and evolution of the gas, galaxy and dark matter content of clusters and to constrain cosmological parameters. This online catalog was created by the HEASARC in May 2003 based on machine-readable versions of tables 2, 3, 4 and 5 of Perlman et al. (2002) that were obtained from the CDS. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .
