No Arabic abstract
Context: After the successful launch of the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission in July 2019, eROSITA, the soft X-ray instrument aboard SRG, performed scanning observations of a large contiguous field, namely the eROSITA Final Equatorial Depth Survey (eFEDS), ahead of the planned four-year all-sky survey. eFEDS yielded a large sample of X-ray sources with very rich multi-band photometric and spectroscopic coverage. Aims: We present here the eFEDS Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) catalog and the eROSITA X-ray spectral properties of the eFEDS sources. Methods: Using a Bayesian method, we perform a systematic X-ray spectral analysis for all eFEDS sources. The appropriate model is chosen based on the source classification and the spectral quality, and, in the case of AGN, including the possibility of intrinsic (rest-frame) absorption and/or soft excess emission. Hierarchical Bayesian modeling (HBM) is used to estimate the spectral parameter distribution of the sample. Results: X-ray spectral properties are presented for all eFEDS X-ray sources. There are 21952 candidate AGN, which comprise 79% of the eFEDS sample. Despite a large number of faint sources with low photon counts, our spectral fitting provides meaningful measurements of fluxes, luminosities, and spectral shapes for a majority of the sources. This AGN catalog is dominated by X-ray unobscured sources, with an obscured (logNH>21.5) fraction of 10% derived by HBM. The power-law slope of the catalog can be described by a Gaussian distribution of 1.94+-0.22. Above a photon counts threshold of 500, nine out of 50 AGN have soft excess detected. For the sources with blue UV to optical color (type-I AGN), the X-ray emission is well correlated with the UV emission with the usual anti-correlation between the X-ray to UV spectral slope {alpha}_{OX} and the UV luminosity.
Context. The eROSITA X-ray telescope onboard the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) observatory combines a large field of view and collecting area in the energy range $sim$0.2 to $sim$8.0 keV with the capability to perform uniform scanning observations of large sky areas. Aims. SRG/eROSITA performed scanning observations of the $sim$140 square degrees eROSITA Final Equatorial Depth Survey (eFEDS) field as part of its performance verification phase. The observing time was chosen to slightly exceed the depth of equatorial fields after the completion of the eROSITA all-sky survey. We present a catalog of detected X-ray sources in the eFEDS field providing source positions and extent information, as well as fluxes in multiple energy bands and document a suite of tools and procedures developed for eROSITA data processing and analysis, validated and optimized by the eFEDS work. Methods. A multi-stage source detection procedure was optimized and calibrated by performing realistic simulations of the eROSITA eFEDS observations. We cross-matched the eROSITA eFEDS source catalog with previous XMM-ATLAS observations, confirming excellent agreement of the eROSITA and XMM-ATLAS source fluxes. Result. We present a primary catalog of 27910 X-ray sources, including 542 with significant spatial extent, detected in the 0.2-2.3 keV energy range with detection likelihoods $ge 6$, corresponding to a point source flux limit of $approx 7 times 10^{-15}$ erg/cm$^2$/s in the 0.5-2.0 keV energy band. A supplementary catalog contains 4774 low-significance source candidates with detection likelihoods between 5 and 6. In addition, a hard band sample of 246 sources detected in the energy range 2.3-5.0 keV above a detection likelihood of 10 is provided. A description of the dedicated data analysis software, calibration database and standard calibrated data products is provided in appendix.
The 140 square degree Final Equatorial-Depth Survey (eFEDS) field, observed with the extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array (eROSITA) aboard the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission, provides a first look at the variable eROSITA sky. We analyze the intrinsic X-ray variability of the eFEDS sources, provide X-ray light curves and tables with variability test results in the 0.2-2.3 keV (soft) and 2.3-5.0 keV (hard) bands. respectively. We perform variability tests using the normalized excess variance and maximum amplitude variability methods as performed for the 2RXS catalogue and add results from the Bayesian excess variance and the Bayesian block methods. In total 65 sources have been identified as being significantly variable in the soft band. In the hard band only one source is found to vary significantly. For the most variable sources fits to stellar flare events reveal extreme flare properties. A few highly variable AGN have also been detected. About half of the variable eFEDS sources have been detected at X-rays with eROSITA for the first time. Comparison with 2RXS and XMM observations provide variability information on timescales of years to decades.
During the performance verification phase of the SRG/eROSITA telescope, the eROSITA Final Equatorial-Depth Survey (eFEDS) has been carried out. It covers a 140 deg$^2$ field located at 126$^circ <$ R.A. $< 146^circ$ and -3$^circ <$ Dec. $< +6^circ$ with a nominal exposure over the field of 2.2 ks. 542 candidate clusters were detected in this field, down to a flux limit $F_X sim 10^{-14}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ in the 0.5-2 keV band. In order to understand radio-mode feedback in galaxy clusters, we study the radio emission of brightest cluster galaxies of eFEDS clusters, and we relate it to the X-ray properties of the host cluster. Using LOFAR we identify 227 radio galaxies hosted in the BCGs of the 542 galaxy clusters and groups detected in eFEDS. We treat non-detections as radio upper limits. We analyse the properties of radio galaxies, such as redshift and luminosity distribution, offset from the cluster centre, largest linear size and radio power. We study their relation to the intracluster medium of the host cluster. We perform statistical tests to deal with upper limits on the radio luminosities. BCGs with radio-loud AGN are more likely to lie close to the cluster centre than radio-quiet BCGs. There is a clear relation between the clusters X-ray luminosity and the radio power of the BCG. Statistical tests indicate that this correlation is not produced by selection effects in the radio band. We see no apparent link between largest linear size of the radio galaxy and central density of the host cluster. Converting the radio luminosity to kinetic luminosity, we find that radiative losses of the intracluster medium are in an overall balance with the heating provided by the central AGN. Finally, we tentatively classify our objects into disturbed and relaxed, and we show that the link between the AGN and the ICM apparently holds regardless of the dynamical state of the cluster.
The $it{eROSITA}$ Final Equatorial Depth Survey (eFEDS), completed during the calibration and performance verification phase of the $it{eROSITA}$ instrument on $it{Spectrum, Roentgen, Gamma}$, delivers data at and beyond the final depth of the four-year $it{eROSITA}$ all-sky survey (eRASS:8), $f_{0.5-2,text{ keV}}$ = $1.1times10^{-14}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{2}$, over 140 deg$^{2}$. It provides the first view of normal galaxy X-ray emission from X-ray binaries (XRBs) and the hot interstellar medium at the full depth of eRASS:8. We use the Heraklion Extragalactic Catalogue (HECATE) of galaxies to correlate with eFEDS X-ray sources and identify 94 X-ray detected normal galaxies. We classify galaxies as star-forming, early-type, composite, and AGN using SDSS and 6dF optical spectroscopy. The eFEDS field harbours 37 normal galaxies: 36 late-type (star-forming) galaxies and 1 early-type galaxy. There are 1.9 times as many normal galaxies as predicted by scaling relations via SIXTE simulations, with an overabundance of late-type galaxies and a dearth of early-type galaxies. Dwarf galaxies with high specific star formation rate (SFR) have elevated L$_{text{X}}$/SFR when compared with specific SFR and metallicity, indicating an increase in XRB emission due to low-metallicity. We expect that eRASS:8 will detect 12,500 normal galaxies, the majority of which will be star-forming, with the caveat that there are unclassified sources in eFEDS and galaxy catalogue incompleteness issues that could increase the actual number of detected galaxies over these current estimates. eFEDS observations detected a rare population of galaxies -- the metal-poor dwarf starbursts -- that do not follow known scaling relations. eRASS is expected to discover significant numbers of these high-redshift analogues, which are important for studying the heating of the intergalactic medium at high-redshift.
Theoretical models of galaxy-AGN co-evolution ascribe an important role for the feedback process to a short, luminous, obscured, and dust-enshrouded phase during which the accretion rate of the SMBH is expected to be at its maximum and the associated AGN-driven winds are also predicted to be maximally developed. To test this scenario, we have isolated a text-book candidate from the eROSITA Final Equatorial-Depth Survey (eFEDS) obtained within the Performance and Verification program of the eROSITA telescope on board Spectrum Roentgen Gamma. From an initial catalog of 246 hard X-ray selected sources matched with the photometric and spectroscopic information available within the eROSITA and Hyper Suprime-Cam consortia, three candidates Quasars in the feedback phase have been isolated applying the diagnostic proposed in Brusa et al. (2015). Only one source (eFEDSU J091157.5+014327) has a spectrum already available (from SDSS-DR16, z=0.603) and it unambiguously shows the presence of a broad component (FWHM~1650 km/s) in the [OIII]5007 line. The associated observed L_[OIII] is ~2.6x10^{42} erg/s, one to two orders of magnitude larger than that observed in local Seyferts and comparable to those observed in a sample of z~0.5 Type 1 Quasars. From the multiwavelength data available we derive an Eddington Ratio (L_bol/L_Edd) of ~0.25, and a bolometric correction in the hard X-ray of k_bol~10, lower than those observed for objects at similar bolometric luminosity. The presence of an outflow, the high X-ray luminosity and moderate X-ray obscuration (L_X~10^44.8 erg/s, N_H~2.7x10^22 cm^-2) and the red optical color, all match the prediction of quasars in the feedback phase from merger driven models. Forecasting to the full eROSITA all-sky survey with its spectroscopic follow-up, we predict that by the end of 2024 we will have a sample of few hundreds such objects at z=0.5-2.