X-ray Follow-up Observations of the SPT Selected Galaxy Clusters
Abstract
In the past decades, X-ray observations were our main window to clusters of galaxies. They brought us a unique view on the rich astrophysics of the baryonic cluster components and allowed us to link the population properties of clusters to their cosmological context. Currently, X-ray observatories are also helping to pave the way cluster surveys in millimeter wavelengths, such as the South Pole Telescope (SPT) survey, which look for imprints of the X-ray luminous intracluster plasma in the cosmic microwave background via the Sunyaev - Zel'dovich effect (SZE). The SPT has completed a 2500 deg^2 survey and detected ~500 clusters (M200 > 3 x 10^14 Mo) spanning up to ~1.4. The optical/IR follow-up finalized recently over the first 750 deg^2 has confirmed the unique properties of the sample with nearly redshift independent mass- limited selection and very low contamination (<5% at S/N=5). I will give an overview of the SPT survey, review the current cosmological constraints from the initial cluster sample and the effort to gain improved mass calibration via follow-up XMM-Newton and Chandra observations, VLT velocity dispersions and HST/VLT lensing measurements. We will demonstrate also how by utilizing distinct SZE selection, X-ray observations can also address important astrophysical questions such as the evolution of the cool core fraction.
- Publication:
-
Half a Century of X-ray Astronomy
- Pub Date:
- September 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012hcxa.confE..58S