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Register a new userChandra Cluster Cosmology Project II: Samples and X-ray Data Reduction
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We discuss the measurements of the galaxy cluster mass functions at z=~0.05 and z=~0.5 using high-quality Chandra observations of samples derived from the ROSAT PSPC All-Sky and 400deg^2 surveys. We provide a full reference for the data analysis procedures, present updated calibration of relations between the total cluster mass and its X-ray indicators (T_X, Mgas, and Y_X) based on a subsample of low-z relaxed clusters, and present a first measurement of the evolving L_X-Mtot relation (with Mtot estimated from Y_X) obtained from a well-defined statistically complete cluster sample and with appropriate corrections for the Malmquist bias applied. Finally, we present the derived cluster mass functions, estimate the systematic uncertainties in this measurement, and discuss the calculation of the likelihood function. We confidently measure the evolution in the cluster comoving number density at a fixed mass threshold, e.g., by a factor of 5.0 +- 1.2 at M_500=2.5e14 h^-1 Msun between z=0 and 0.5. This evolution reflects the growth of density perturbations and can be used for the cosmological constraints complementing those from the distance-redshift relation.
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Chandra observations of large samples of galaxy clusters detected in X-rays by ROSAT provide a new, robust determination of the cluster mass functions at low and high redshifts. Statistical and systematic errors are now sufficiently small, and the redshift leverage sufficiently large for the mass function evolution to be used as a useful growth of structure based dark energy probe. In this paper, we present cosmological parameter constraints obtained from Chandra observations of 36 clusters with <z>=0.55 derived from 400deg^2 ROSAT serendipitous survey and 49 brightest z=~0.05 clusters detected in the All-Sky Survey. Evolution of the mass function between these redshifts requires Omega_Lambda>0 with a ~5sigma significance, and constrains the dark energy equation of state parameter to w0=-1.14+-0.21, assuming constant w and flat universe. Cluster information also significantly improves constraints when combined with other methods. Fitting our cluster data jointly with the latest supernovae, WMAP, and baryonic acoustic oscillations measurements, we obtain w0=-0.991+-0.045 (stat) +-0.039 (sys), a factor of 1.5 reduction in statistical uncertainties, and nearly a factor of 2 improvement in systematics compared to constraints that can be obtained without clusters. The joint analysis of these four datasets puts a conservative upper limit on the masses of light neutrinos, Sum m_nu<0.33 eV at 95% CL. We also present updated measurements of Omega_M*h and sigma_8 from the low-redshift cluster mass function.
Sensitive, wide-area X-ray surveys which would be possible with the WFXT will detect huge samples of virialized objects spanning the mass range from sub-groups to the most massive clusters, and extending in redshift to beyond z=2. These samples will be an excellent dataset for carrying out many traditional cosmological tests using the cluster mass function and power spectrum. Uniquely, WFXT will be able not only to detect clusters but also to make detailed X-ray measurements for a large number of clusters and groups right from the survey data. Very high quality measurements of the cluster mass function and spatial correlation over a very wide range of masses, spatial scales, and redshifts, will be useful for expanding the cosmological discovery space, and in particular, in searching for departures from the concordant Lambda-CDM cosmological model. Finding such departures would have far-reaching implications on our understanding of the fundamental physics which governs the Universe.
We have carried out an in-depth study of low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) detected in the nearby lenticular galaxy NGC 3115, using the Megasecond Chandra X-Ray Visionary Project observation (total exposure time 1.1 Ms). In total we found 136 candidate LMXBs in the field and 49 in globular clusters (GCs) above 2sigma detection, with 0.3--8 keV luminosity L_X ~10^36-10^39 erg/s. Other than 13 transient candidates, the sources overall have less long-term variability at higher luminosity, at least at L_X > 2x10^37 erg/s. In order to identify the nature and spectral state of our sources, we compared their collective spectral properties based on single-component models (a simple power law or a multicolor disk) with the spectral evolution seen in representative Galactic LMXBs. We found that in the L_X versus photon index Gamma_PL and L_X versus disk temperature kT_MCD plots, most of our sources fall on a narrow track in which the spectral shape hardens with increasing luminosity below L_X~7x10^37 erg/s but is relatively constant (Gamma_PL~1.5 or kT_MCD~1.5 keV) above this luminosity, similar to the spectral evolution of Galactic neutron star (NS) LMXBs in the soft state in the Chandra bandpass. Therefore we identified the track as the NS LMXB soft-state track and suggested sources with L_X<7x10^37 erg/s as atolls in the soft state and those with L_X>7x10^37 erg/s as Z sources. Ten other sources (five are transients) displayed significantly softer spectra and are probably black hole X-ray binaries in the thermal state. One of them (persistent) is in a metal-poor GC.
We report results of an 18 ks exposure with the ACIS instrument on Chandra of the powerful z = 0.62 radio galaxy 3C 220.1. The X-ray emission separates into cluster gas of emission-weighted kT ~ 5 keV and 0.7-12 keV luminosity (to a radius of 45 arcsec) 5.6 x 10^44 ergs s^-1, and unresolved emission (coincident with the radio core). While the extended X-ray emission is clearly thermal in nature, a straightforward cooling-flow model, even in conjunction with a point-source component, is a poor fit to the radial profile of the X-ray emission. This is despite the fact that the measured properties of the gas suggest a massive cooling flow of ~ 130 M_odot yr^-1, and the data show weak evidence for a temperature gradient. The central unresolved X-ray emission has a power-law spectral energy index alpha ~ 0.7 and 0.7-12 keV luminosity 10^45 ergs s^-1, and any intrinsic absorption is relatively small. The two-point spectrum of the core emission between radio and X-ray energies has alpha_rx = 0.75. Since this is a flatter spectrum than seen in other sources where the X-ray emission is presumed to be radio-related, regions close to the AGN in this source may dominate the central X-ray output, as is believed to be the case for lobe-dominated quasars. Simple unification models would be challenged if this were found to be the case for a large fraction of high-power radio galaxies.
We present the results from two-point spatial correlation analyses on X-ray confirmed northern Abell clusters. The cluster samples are subsets of a volume-limited ROSAT All-Sky Survey study of 294 Abell clusters of which 240 are X-ray luminous. We examined magnitude- and volume-complete samples for differences according to richness and X-ray luminosity. For R>=1 clusters, we find r_0 = 22h^-1Mpc and gamma = -1.7, which is consistent with previous analyses of visually selected clusters. We also find no indications of line-of-sight anisotropies. For R >= 0 clusters, we find r_0= 17.5h^-1Mpc which is considerably lower than recent determinations of r_0 for similar X-ray bright cluster samples (e.g. the XBACs and the RASS1 clusters). All of the R>=0 X-ray confirmed samples, including the XBACs and RASS1 clusters, show line-of-sight anisotropies. Since X-ray emissions confirm a clusters reality, we conclude that these anisotropies are not the result of spuriously selected clusters. We also examine the Abell clusters for the depedence of r_0 and gamma on X-ray luminosity, and find no evidence for r_0 to grow with increasing X-ray luminosity thresholds. This is contrary to similar L_x vs. r_0 analyses of the RASS1 and XBACs cluster samples. We describe selection effects within the flux-limited XBACs and RASS1 samples and suggest how they can affect both the size of r_0 and its dependence on L_x.
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