The ROSAT-ESO Flux Limited X-ray (REFLEX) Galaxy cluster survey

Abstract

Abstract. We present the catalogue of the REFLEX Cluster Survey providing information on the X-ray properties, redshifts, and some identification details of the clusters in the REFLEX sample. The catalogue describes a statistically complete X-ray flux-limited sample of 447 galaxy clusters above an X-ray flux of 3 × 10 −12 erg s −1 cm −2 (0.1 to 2.4 keV) in an area of 4.24 ster 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 programme. 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. In addition to the cluster catalogue we also describe the complete selection criteria as a function of the sky position and the conversion functions used to analyse the X-ray data. These are essential for the precise statistical analysis of the large-scale cluster distribution. This data set is at present the largest, statistically complete X-ray galaxy cluster sample. Together with these data set we also provide for the first time the full three-dimensional selection function. 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. Part of these cosmological results have already been published.

Comparing Dark Energy Survey andHST–CLASH observations of the galaxy cluster RXC J2248.7−4431: implications for stellar mass versus dark matter

“…It was first catalogued by Abell, Corwin & Olowin (1989), who counted 74 galaxies. Thanks to the ROSAT-ESO Flux Limited X-ray (REFLEX) Galaxy Cluster survey, Böhringer et al (2004) measured a spectroscopic redshift z = 0.3475, which has been adopted in the recent literature and has also been confirmed in Gómez et al (2012), who quoted a mean redshift of z = 0.3461 +0.0010 −0.0011 for 81 members. Gómez et al (2012) were the first to study in detail RXJ2248, even though it is the second most luminous cluster in the REFLEX survey (having a reported luminosity of ∼3.08 × 10 45 erg s −1 in the rest frame 0.1-2.4 keV band).…”

LoCuSS: weak-lensing mass calibration of galaxy clusters

“…The sample comprises 50 clusters (Table 1) drawn from the ROSAT All Sky Survey cluster catalogues (Ebeling et al 1998(Ebeling et al , 2000Böhringer et al 2004) that satisfy the criteria: −25 • < δ < +65 • , nH 7 × 10 20 cm −2 , 0.15 z 0.3, LX /E(z) > 4.1 × 10 44 erg s −1 where LX is in the 0.1 − 2.4 keV band and E(z) = ΩM (1 + z) 3 + ΩΛ. The sample is X-ray luminosity-limited, and therefore approximately mass-limited.…”

Planckintermediate results

“…For the present comparison, we chose to use published results from LoCuSS, which is an all-sky X-ray-selected sample of 100 massive galaxy clusters at 0.1 < z < 0.3 drawn from the REFLEX (Böhringer et al 2004) and eBCS (Ebeling et al 2000) catalogues, for which gravitational lensing data from the Hubble Space Telescope and Subaru Telescope are being accumulated. At the time of writing, relevant data from only part of the full sample have been published, as detailed below.…”