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M. G. Watson (Univ.of Leicester), XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre Team
XMM-Newton provides a powerful facility for X-ray surveys by virtue of its high sensitivity and large field of view, coupled with excellent hard X-ray response.
The XMM-Newton Survey Science Centre (SSC) is carrying out a programme of identification and follow-up of significant samples of sources serendipitously discovered in EPIC observations. This project, underway since mid-2000, involves a substantial programme of spectroscopic identifications (over 300 sources have already been identified), coupled with extensive deep optical/infrared imaging of XMM-Newton fields (around 100 fields have been observed so far; ultimately these data will provide a much larger sample of `statistically' identified sources). The programme includes both high and low-latitude samples.
Initial analysis of the high Galactic latitude sample shows that it is mostly populated by different classes of AGN: normal broad-line AGN and QSOs (including a relevant fraction of BAL and zabs~zem QSOs), narrow-line AGN (including QSO-2 candidates), optically inactive but X-ray luminous galaxies and other interesting objects. In the galactic plane the source population is dominated by coronally active stars as expected, but a number of accreting binaries have also been detected.
This paper will describe progress on this programme to date and will present the first quantitative studies based on these data.