No Arabic abstract
Identified radio supernova remnants (SNRs) in the Galaxy comprise an incomplete sample of the SNR population due to various selection effects. ROSAT performed the first all-sky survey with an imaging X-ray telescope, and thus provides another window for finding SNRs and compact objects that may reside within them. Performing a search for extended X-ray sources in the ROSAT all-sky survey database about 350 objects were identified as SNR candidates in recent years (Busser 1998). Continuing this systematic search, we have reanalysed the ROSAT all-sky survey (RASS) data of these candidates and correlated the results with radio surveys like NVSS, ATNF, Molonglo and Effelsberg. A further correlation with SIMBAD and NED was performed for subsequent identification purposes. About 50 of the 350 candidates turned out to be likely galaxies or clusters of galaxies. We found 14 RASS sources which are very promising SNR candidates and are currently subject of further follow-up studies. We will provide the details of the identification campaign and present first results.
We present the second ROSAT all-sky survey source catalogue, hereafter referred to as the 2RXS catalogue. This is the second publicly released ROSAT catalogue of point-like sources obtained from the ROSAT all-sky survey (RASS) observations performed with the PSPC between June 1990 and August 1991, and is an extended and revised version of the bright and faint source catalogues. We used the latest version of the RASS processing to produce overlapping X-ray images of 6.4x6.4 degrees sky regions. To create a source catalogue, a likelihood-based detection algorithm was applied to these, which accounts for the PSF across the PSPC field of view. Improvements in the background determination compared to 1RXS were also implemented. We obtained about 135,000 X-ray detections in the 0.1-2.4 keV energy band down to a likelihood threshold of 6.5. Our simulations show that the expected spurious content of the catalogue is a strong function of detection likelihood, and the full catalogue is expected to contain about 30% spurious detections. X-ray images and overlaid X-ray contour lines provide an additional user product to evaluate the detections visually, and we performed our own visual inspections to flag uncertain detections. Intra-day variability in the X-ray light curves was quantified based on the normalised excess variance and a maximum amplitude variability analysis. X-ray spectral fits were performed using three basic models, a power law, a thermal plasma emission model, and black-body emission. Thirty-two large extended regions with diffuse emission and embedded point sources were identified and excluded from the present analysis. The 2RXS catalogue provides the deepest and cleanest X-ray all-sky survey catalogue in advance of eROSITA.
The ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) was the first imaging X-ray survey of the entire sky. While X-ray source counterparts are known to range from distant quasars to nearby M dwarfs, the RASS data alone are often insufficient to determine the nature of an X-ray source. As a result, large-scale follow-up programs are required to construct samples of known X-ray emitters. We use optical data produced by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to identify 709 stellar X-ray emitters cataloged in the RASS and falling within the SDSS Data Release 1 footprint. Most of these are bright stars with coronal X-ray emission unsuitable for SDSS spectroscopy, which is designed for fainter objects (g > 15 mag). Instead, we use SDSS photometry, correlations with the Two Micron All Sky Survey and other catalogs, and spectroscopy from the Apache Point Observatory 3.5 m telescope to identify these stellar X-ray counterparts. Our sample of 707 X-ray-emitting F, G, K, and M stars is one of the largest X-ray-selected samples of such stars. We derive distances to these stars using photometric parallax relations appropriate for dwarfs on the main sequence, and use these distances to calculate LX. We also identify a previously unknown cataclysmic variable (CV) as a RASS counterpart. Separately, we use correlations of the RASS and the SDSS spectroscopic catalogs of CVs and white dwarfs (WDs) to study the properties of these rarer X-ray-emitting stars. We examine the relationship between (fX/fg) and the equivalent width of the Hbeta emission line for 46 X-ray-emitting CVs and discuss tentative classifications for a subset based on these quantities. We identify 17 new X-ray-emitting DA (hydrogen) WDs, of which three are newly identified WDs. (abridged)
DXL (Diffuse X-ray emission from the Local Galaxy) is a sounding rocket mission designed to estimate the contribution of Solar Wind Charge eXchange (SWCX) to the Diffuse X-ray Background (DXB) and to help determine the properties of the Local Hot Bubble (LHB). The detectors are large-area thin-window proportional counters with a spectral response similar to that of the PSPC used in the ROSAT All Sky Survey (RASS). A direct comparison of DXL and RASS data for the same part of the sky viewed from quite different vantage points in the Solar system and the assumption of approximate isotropy for the Solar wind allowed us to quantify the SWCX contribution to all 6 RASS bands (R1-R7, excepting R3). We find that the SWCX contribution at l=140 deg, b=0 deg, where the DXL path crosses the Galactic plane is 33%+-6% (statistical)+-12%(systematic) for R1, 44%+-%+-5% for R2, 18%+-12%+-11% for R4, 14%+-11%+-9% for R5, and negligible for R6 and R7 bands. Reliable models for the distribution of neutral H and He in the Solar system permit estimation of the contribution of interplanetary SWCX emission over the the whole sky and correction of the RASS maps. We find that the average SWCX contribution in the whole sky is 26%+-6%+-13% for R1, 30%+-4%+-4% for R2, 8%+-5%+-5% for R4, 6%+-4%+-4% for R5, and negligible for R6 and R7.
We present 5 GHz high resolution VLA observations of 2,127 radio- and X-ray-emitting sources found in both the Green Bank (GB) 5 GHz radio catalog and the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS). We report core flux densities and positions accurate to +/-0.5. Combined with the GB measuremens of the total radio emission, we derive the core-to-lobe ratio of objects in our sample and discuss their core-dominance relative to samples of radio galaxies and BL Lacertae objects. Our results show the ROSAT/GreenBank (RGB) sample is approximately an order of magnitude more core-dominated than the radio galaxy sample, but is more than an order of magnitude less core-dominated than highly beamed BL Lacertae object samples. Using simple beaming models, this indicates the typical object in the RGB catalog exhibits beamed radio emission and is oriented at a modest angle to the line-of-sight (theta ~ 25-30 degrees). The case of the origin of the X-ray emission is not as clear; the data are consistent with either an anisotropic unbeamed or moderately beamed X-ray component.
We present a study of the X-ray properties of a volume-limited sample of optically selected emission-line galaxies. The sample is derived from a correlation between the KPNO International Spectroscopic Survey (KISS), an H-alpha-selected objective-prism survey of AGNs and starbursting galaxies, and the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS). After elimination of all spurious matches, we identify 18 ROSAT-detected X-ray sources within the KISS sample in the 0.1-2.4 keV band. Due to soft X-ray selection effects, the majority of the ROSAT sources are Seyfert 1 galaxies. The majority (54%) of the ROSAT-KISS Seyferts are classified as narrow-line Seyfert 1 objects, a relatively high percentage compared to previous objective-prism-selected Seyfert galaxy samples. We estimate the X-ray luminosities of the ROSAT-detected KISS objects and derive volume emissivities of 6.63 x 10^38 ergs/s/Mpc^3 and 1.45 x 10^38 ergs/s/Mpc^3 for the 30 deg and 43 deg survey strips, respectively. For those KISS AGNs not detected by RASS, we use the median L_X/L_H-alpha ratio derived from a previous study to estimate L_X. The total 0.5-2 keV volume emissivity we predict for the overall KISS AGN sample is sufficient to account for 22.1 +/- 8.9% of the soft X-ray background (XRB), averaged over both survey strips. The KISS AGN sample is made up predominantly of intermediate-luminosity Seyfert 2s and LINERs, which tend to be weak soft X-ray sources. They may, however, represent a much more significant contribution to the hard XRB.