X-ray flux -- mass relation for $z\gtrsim 0.7$ galaxy clusters

TL;DR

This study verifies the relation between X-ray flux and galaxy cluster mass at high redshift, introducing a correction factor to account for various observational and definitional factors, demonstrating X-ray flux as a practical mass proxy.

Contribution

It presents an empirical calibration of the X-ray flux--mass relation for high-redshift clusters, incorporating a correction coefficient for different mass estimation methods.

Findings

X-ray flux is a useful low-cost mass indicator for distant clusters.

The correction coefficient varies depending on the mass calibration method.

The relation holds for clusters at z > 0.6-0.7.

Abstract

We use a subsample of co-detections of the ACT and MaDCoWS cluster catalogs to verify the predicted relation between the observed X-ray flux $F_X$ in the 0.5-2~keV band and the cluster mass $M_{\rm 500c}$ for halos at $z>0.6-0.7$. We modify this relation by introducing a correction coefficient $\eta$, which is supposed to encapsulate factors associated with a particular method of flux estimation, the sample selection function, the definition of the cluster mass, etc. We show that the X-ray flux, being the most basic X-ray observable, serves as a convenient and low-cost mass indicator for distant galaxy clusters with photometric or even missing redshifts (by setting $z=1$) as long as it is known that $z\gtrsim 0.6-0.7$. The correction coefficient $\eta$ is $\approx 0.8$ if $M^{\rm UPP}_{\rm 500c}$ from the ACT-DR5 catalog are used as cluster masses and $\eta\approx 1.1$ if weak-lensing-calibrated masses $M^{\rm Cal}_{\rm 500c}$ are used instead.