Detection of X-ray galaxy clusters based on the Kolmogorov method

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel application of the Kolmogorov method to detect galaxy clusters in X-ray survey data, providing a simple and reliable identification technique based on analyzing correlations in X-ray properties.

Contribution

The study demonstrates that the Kolmogorov distribution can effectively identify galaxy clusters in X-ray data, offering a new method for cluster detection in large surveys.

Findings

Kolmogorov method detects galaxy clusters in X-ray data.

Method sensitive to correlations in X-ray properties.

Applicable to large X-ray surveys for cluster identification.

Abstract

The detection of clusters of galaxies in large surveys plays an important part in extragalactic astronomy, and particularly in cosmology, since cluster counts can give strong constraints on cosmological parameters. X-ray imaging is in particular a reliable means to discover new clusters, and large X-ray surveys are now available. Considering XMM-Newton data for a sample of 40 Abell clusters, we show that their analysis with a Kolmogorov distribution can provide a distinctive signature for galaxy clusters. The Kolmogorov method is sensitive to the correlations in the cluster X-ray properties and can therefore be used for their identification, thus allowing to search reliably for clusters in a simple way.