Issue |
A&A
Volume 592, August 2016
The XXL Survey: First results
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A1 | |
Number of page(s) | 16 | |
Section | Catalogs and data | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201526766 | |
Published online | 15 June 2016 |
The XXL Survey⋆,⋆⋆
I. Scientific motivations − XMM-Newton observing plan − Follow-up observations and simulation programme
1 Service d’Astrophysique AIM, DSM/IRFU/SAp, CEA-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
e-mail: mpierre@cea.fr
2 Argelander Institut für Astronomie, Universität Bonn, 53121 Bonn, Germany
3 Université Aix-Marseille, CNRS, LAM (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille) UMR 7326, 13388 Marseille, France
4 Laboratoire Lagrange, UMR 7293, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, 06304 Nice, France
5 Department of Astronomy and Space Sciences, Faculty of Science, Istanbul University, 34119 Istanbul, Turkey
6 European Space Astronomy Centre (ESA/ESAC), Operations Department, Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
7 H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TL, UK
8 INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via Frascati 33, 00040 Monteporzio Catone, Roma, Italy
9 Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, viale Berti Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
10 Max Planck Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse 1, 85748 Garching bei München, Germany
11 INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy
12 INAF, IASF Milano, via Bassini 15, 20133 Milano, Italy
13 Laboratoire Univers et Théories (LUTh), CNRS, Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France
14 European Southern Observatory, 85748 Garching, Germany
15 School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
16 Ludwig Maximilian Universität, 80539 München, Germany
17 Astrophysics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
18 Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, UMR 7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 75005 Paris, France
19 CNRS, UMR 7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, 98bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France
20 Department of Astronomy, University of Geneva, Ch. d’Écogia 16, 1290 Versoix, Switzerland
21 Departments of Physics and Astronomy and Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA
22 Extragalactic Astrophysics and Space Observations (AEOS), University of Liège, Allée du 6 Août, 17 (Sart Tilman, Bât. B5c), 4000 Liège, Belgium
23 Department of Physics, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
24 IAASARS, National Observatory of Athens, 15236 Penteli, Greece
25 University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa
26 Dept. of Earth & Space Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, Onsala Space Observatory, 439 92 Onsala, Sweden
27 International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, M468, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
28 INAF-OAB, Brera, Italy
29 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria, BC, Canada
30 Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L3 5RF, UK
31 DSM/IRFU/SEDI, CEA-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
32 Australian Astronomical Observatory, Epping, North Ryde NSW 2113, Australia
33 Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
34 DSM/IRFU/SPP, CEA-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
35 Astronomical Observatory, Taras Shevshenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine
36 University of Illinois, USA
37 Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Physics Department, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
38 INAF–Astronomical Observatory of Padova, Italy
39 European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Vitacura, Santiago de Chile, Chile
40 Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
41 Faculty of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Department of Physics, Presidency University, 86/1 College Street, (Calcutta) 700 073 Kolkata, India
42 Leiden Observatory, The Netherlands
43 SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, USA
44 Department of Physics, University of Zagreb, Bijenička cesta 32, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
45 Code 662, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
46 Princeton University, USA
47 University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
48 Institut de Physique Théorique, CEA, Saclay, France
49 Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Manora Peak, 263 129 Nainita, Uttarakhand, India
50 INFN, Sezione di Bologna, viale Berti Pichat 6/2, 40127 Bologna, Italy
51 Instituto Nacional de Astrofìsica Óptica y Electrónica, AP 51 y 216, 72000 Puebla, Mexico
52 INAF–Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo Enrico Fermi 5, 50125 Firenze, Italy
53 IAS, Université de Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
Received: 17 June 2015
Accepted: 27 October 2015
Context. The quest for the cosmological parameters that describe our universe continues to motivate the scientific community to undertake very large survey initiatives across the electromagnetic spectrum. Over the past two decades, the Chandra and XMM-Newton observatories have supported numerous studies of X-ray-selected clusters of galaxies, active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and the X-ray background. The present paper is the first in a series reporting results of the XXL-XMM survey; it comes at a time when the Planck mission results are being finalised.
Aims. We present the XXL Survey, the largest XMM programme totaling some 6.9 Ms to date and involving an international consortium of roughly 100 members. The XXL Survey covers two extragalactic areas of 25 deg2 each at a point-source sensitivity of ~5 × 10-15 erg s-1 cm-2 in the [0.5−2] keV band (completeness limit). The survey’s main goals are to provide constraints on the dark energy equation of state from the space-time distribution of clusters of galaxies and to serve as a pathfinder for future, wide-area X-ray missions. We review science objectives, including cluster studies, AGN evolution, and large-scale structure, that are being conducted with the support of approximately 30 follow-up programmes.
Methods. We describe the 542 XMM observations along with the associated multi-λ and numerical simulation programmes. We give a detailed account of the X-ray processing steps and describe innovative tools being developed for the cosmological analysis.
Results. The paper provides a thorough evaluation of the X-ray data, including quality controls, photon statistics, exposure and background maps, and sky coverage. Source catalogue construction and multi-λ associations are briefly described. This material will be the basis for the calculation of the cluster and AGN selection functions, critical elements of the cosmological and science analyses.
Conclusions. The XXL multi-λ data set will have a unique lasting legacy value for cosmological and extragalactic studies and will serve as a calibration resource for future dark energy studies with clusters and other X-ray selected sources. With the present article, we release the XMM XXL photon and smoothed images along with the corresponding exposure maps.
Key words: X-rays: general / large-scale structure of Universe / X-rays: galaxies: clusters / surveys
Based on observations obtained with XMM-Newton, an ESA science mission with instruments and contributions directly funded by ESA Member States and NASA. Based on observations made with ESO Telescopes at the La Silla Paranal Observatory under programme 089.A-0666 and LP191.A-0268.
The XMM XXL observation list (Full Table B.1) is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/592/A1
© ESO, 2016
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