Gaia Data Release 3. The first Gaia catalogue of eclipsing-binary candidates

Context. Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3) provides a number of new data products that complement the early DR3 made available two years ago. Among these is the first Gaia catalogue of eclipsing-binary candidates containing 2 184 477 sources with brightnesses from a few magnitudes to 20 mag in the Gaia G-band and covering the full sky.
Aims: We present the catalogue, describe its content, provide tips for its use, estimate its quality, and show illustrative samples.
Methods: Candidate selection is based on the results of variable object classification performed within the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium. Candidates are then further filtered using eclipsing-binary-tailored criteria based on the G-band light curves. To find the orbital period, a large ensemble of trial periods is first acquired using three distinct period-search methods applied to the cleaned G light curve of each source. The G light curve is then modelled with up to two Gaussians and a cosine for each trial period. The best combination of orbital period and geometric model is finally selected using Bayesian model comparison based on the BIC. A global ranking metric is provided to rank the quality of the chosen model between sources. The catalogue is restricted to orbital periods larger than 0.2 days.
Results: Of ∼600 000 available crossmatches, about 530 000 of the candidates are classified as eclipsing binaries in the literature as well, and 93% of them have published periods compatible with the Gaia periods. Catalogue completeness is estimated to be between 25% and 50%, depending on the sky region, relative to the OGLE4 catalogues of eclipsing binaries towards the Galactic Bulge and the Magellanic Clouds. The analysis of an illustrative sample of ∼400 000 candidates with significant parallaxes shows properties in the observational Hertzsprung-Russell diagram as expected for eclipsing binaries. The subsequent analysis of a subsample of detached bright candidates provides further hints for the exploitation of the catalogue. We also address the observed lack of short-period (less than a day) systems in the Magellanic Cloud in comparison to Galactic systems. The orbital periods, light-curve model parameters, and global rankings are all published in the catalogue with their related uncertainties where applicable.
Conclusions: This Gaia DR3 catalogue of eclipsing-binary candidates constitutes the largest catalogue to date in terms of number of sources, sky coverage, and magnitude range.