The ROSAT Brightest Cluster Sample (BCS): The Cluster X-Ray Luminosity Function within Z = 0.3

doi:10.1086/310589

The ROSAT Brightest Cluster Sample (BCS): The Cluster X-Ray Luminosity Function within Z = 0.3

We present and discuss the X-ray luminosity function (XLF) of the ROSAT Brightest Cluster sample (BCS), an X-ray flux limited sample of clusters of galaxies in the northern hemisphere compiled from ROSAT All-Sky Survey data. The BCS allows the local cluster XLF to be determined with unprecedented accuracy over almost three decades in X-ray luminosity and provides an important reference for searches for cluster evolution at higher redshifts.

We find the significance of evolution in both the XLF amplitude and in the characteristic cluster luminosity L^*_X to be less than 1.8 σ within the redshift range covered by our sample thereby disproving previous claims of strong evolution within z <~ 0.2.

Publication:

The Astrophysical Journal

Pub Date:

April 1997

DOI:

10.1086/310589

arXiv:

arXiv:astro-ph/9701179

Bibcode:

1997ApJ...479L.101E

Keywords:

GALAXIES: CLUSTERS: GENERAL;
COSMOLOGY: OBSERVATIONS;
X-RAYS: GENERAL;
Cosmology: Observations;
Galaxies: Clusters: General;
X-Rays: General;
Astrophysics

E-Print:

LaTeX using AAS style file, 1 table, 5 PostScript figures. To appear in the April 20 issue of ApJL (in press). Changes: 1. The code used to fit a Schechter function to our data did not take the 10% incompleteness of our sample properly into account. The best fit parameters obtained with the corrected version differ slightly from the earlier ones. None of our conclusions are affected. 2. We include a comparison with the XLF obtained by De Grandi for the BSGC-KP cluster sample.

NASA/ADS