J. Kosowski | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Large eROSITA X-ray sources as 2MRS galaxy groups

We aim to exploit the large area coverage, good sensitivity, and low instrumental background of eROSITA to detect the faint surface brightness emission of galaxy groups from the Two Micron All Sky Survey Redshift Survey (2MRS). Using the data from eROSITA-DE Data Release 1, including images, exposure maps, and local background maps, we performed a wavelet decomposition of image mosaics in the 0.6--2.3 keV band at angular scales of 1/8-16'. We adopted 8-16' scales for source detection and 2-4' scales to improve catalog purity. A novel identification method based on the ranked partial Hausdorff distance fully exploits the X-ray image and group membership information. Random catalogs were used to control match purity, and the identification threshold was chosen to maximize the catalog size at a fixed purity. {We present a catalog of 619 X-ray galaxy groups with 80% purity, and define subsamples with 90% and 97% purity. Bright sources closely match the AXES-2MRS catalog (which is based on ROSAT All Sky Survey data analysis on spatial scales of 12-24'). The X-ray luminosity function of our groups agrees with previous studies down to 5.e41 erg/s. Using dynamical mass estimates, we find that the X-ray counterpart completeness for groups with >=4 members exceeds 60% for masses >2e13 Msun. We modeled the 2MRS group catalog and justify the inclusion of two-member groups in the identification. This study demonstrates that large X-ray sources on spatial scales relevant for cosmological studies of baryonic distributions can be reliably detected and identified using nearby galaxy group catalogs.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

AXES-SDSS: Solving the puzzle of X-ray emission of optical galaxy groups via a modified Hausdorff distance

The identification of X-ray and CMB sources as galaxy groups and clusters is a prerequisite for cluster cosmology. But the identification of groups, especially nearby ones, suffers from projection effects which in turn affect the purity of the sample. In X-rays, the position of the cluster can be given either by the peak of the emission, or by the full information content of the cluster image. Similarly, the optical center, or its member galaxies, can describe the optical counterpart. With the progress of numerical simulations, it is currently feasible to reproduce both the optical group membership assignment and the behavior of the group outskirts in X-rays, and therefore there is an opportunity to define a reproducible group identification procedure. We performed two-way matching between X-ray contours, drawn at a fixed surface brightness level corresponding to a baryonic overdensity of ~500, to the projected galaxy positions using a modified Hausdorff distance (MHD). We used the volume-limited SDSS group catalog to evaluate the purity and completeness of the procedure, maintaining the constant performance of the optical group finder with redshift. We find that an MHD of 0.631 Mpc provides 90% purity. This is a clear improvement over the methods that rely on the optical counterparts' distance and richness. We study the purity versus MHD and the completeness versus redshift and velocity dispersion. Over half of nearby groups have X-ray emission, even those with velocity dispersions as low as 200km/s; this has never previously been demonstrated. The bulk of these groups follow the same scaling relations as the groups with a small separation between the optical and X-ray centers, removing feedback as an explanation for the lack of matches in previous studies. Instead, the problem is caused by over-merging in the optical group catalog construction and source confusion in X-rays.

astro-ph.HE↗