XID II: Statistical Cross-Association of ROSAT Bright Source Catalog X-ray Sources with 2MASS Point Source Catalog Near-Infrared Sources

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive statistical cross-association of ROSAT X-ray sources with 2MASS near-infrared sources, creating a catalog of likely counterparts and their association probabilities to aid in classifying X-ray emitters.

Contribution

It introduces a new association catalog with probabilistic matching of ROSAT X-ray sources to 2MASS NIR sources, including many previously unlisted counterparts, enhancing source classification potential.

Findings

Identified 3853 high-quality X-ray--NIR matches with Pid>0.98.

Discovered many new associations not listed in SIMBAD or USNO-A2.

Confirmed that all coronally active stars in RASS/BSC should have NIR counterparts.

Abstract

The 18806 ROSAT All Sky Survey Bright Source Catalog (RASS/BSC) X-ray sources are quantitatively cross-associated with near-infrared (NIR) sources from the Two Micron All Sky Survey Point Source Catalog (2MASS/PSC). An association catalog is presented, listing the most likely counterpart for each RASS/BSC source, the probability Pid that the NIR source and X-ray source are uniquely associated, and the probability Pnoid that none of the 2MASS/PSC sources are associated with the X-ray source. The catalog includes 3853 high quality (Pid>0.98) X-ray--NIR matches, 2280 medium quality (0.98>Pid>0.9) matches, and 4153 low quality (0.9>Pid>0.5) matches. Of the high quality matches, 1418 are associations that are not listed in the SIMBAD database, and for which no high quality match with a USNO-A2 optical source was presented for the RASS/BSC source in previous work. The present work offers a significant number of new associations with RASS/BSC objects that will require optical/NIR spectroscopy for classification. For example, of the 6133 Pid>0.9 2MASS/PSC counterparts presented in the association catalog, 2411 have no classification listed in the SIMBAD database. These 2MASS/PSC sources will likely include scientifically useful examples of known source classes of X-ray emitters (white dwarfs, coronally active stars, active galactic nuclei), but may also contain previously unknown source classes. It is determined that all coronally active stars in the RASS/BSC should have a counterpart in the 2MASS/PSC, and that the unique association of these RASS/BSC sources with their NIR counterparts thus is confusion limited.