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A.K. Romer (CMU), R.G. Mann (IC), A.R. Liddle (IC), P.T.P Viana (UPorto)
The scientific motivation for performing a serendipitous cluster survey with XMM is compelling. Such a survey could readily detect rich clusters beyond z=1, yielding important limits to the cosmological parameters \Omega0 and \Omega\lambda, and strong constraints on models of cluster evolution. The catalog resulting from the survey would facilitate the objective selection of clusters samples for a wide variety of follow up projects. Given that many of the detected rich clusters would be gravitational lenses, the catalog will provide access to galaxies at high redshifts. The catalog would also provide invaluable input for the P\small{LANCK} cosmic microwave background anisotropy mission.
We estimate that, over the ten year design lifetime of XMM, the EPIC instrument will image a total of ~50 square degrees in fields suitable for the serendipitous detection of clusters of galaxies. Extrapolation from previous surveys suggests that this would yield a catalog of more than ~000 sources (to an expected uniform survey flux limit of 2\times10-14 ergs s-1 cm-2 [2-10 keV]), ranging from poor groups of galaxies to very rich clusters. We will discuss the scientific goals of the proposed survey and the various programmatic difficulties involved in its execution. The discussion will include the results of our recent Press-Schechter simulations and our detailed investigation into expected off-axis performance of the EPIC instrument.
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