Discovery of a supercluster in the eROSITA Final Equatorial Depth Survey: X-ray properties, radio halo, and double relics

Aims: We examine the X-ray, optical, and radio properties of the member clusters of a new supercluster discovered during the SRG/eROSITA Performance Verification phase.
Methods: We analyzed the 140 deg² eROSITA Final Equatorial Depth Survey (eFEDS) field observed during the Performance Verification phase to a nominal depth of about 2.3 ks. In this field, we detect a previously unknown supercluster consisting of a chain of eight galaxy clusters at z ~ 0.36. The redshifts of these members were determined through Hyper Suprime-Cam photometric measurements. We examined the X-ray morphological and dynamical properties, gas, and total mass out to R₅₀₀ of the members and compare these with the same properties of the general population of clusters detected in the eFEDS field. We further investigated the gas in the bridge region between the cluster members for a potential WHIM detection. We also used radio follow-up observations with LOFAR and uGMRT to search for diffuse emission and constrain the dynamic state of the system.
Results: We do not find significant differences between the morphological parameters and properties of the intra-cluster medium of the clusters embedded in this large-scale filament and those of the eFEDS clusters. We also provide upper limits on the electron number density and mass of the warm-hot intergalactic medium as provided by the eROSITA data. These limits are consistent with previously reported values for the detections in the vicinity of clusters of galaxies. In LOFAR and uGMRT follow-up observations of the northern part of this supercluster, we find two new radio relics and a radio halo that are the result of major merger activity in the system.
Conclusions: These early results show the potential of eROSITA to probe large-scale structures such as superclusters and the properties of their members. Our forecasts show that we will be able to detect about 450 superclusters, with approximately 3000 member clusters located in the eROSITA_DE region at the final eROSITA all-sky survey depth, enabling statistical studies of the properties of superclusters and their constituents embedded in the cosmic web.