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Context. The eROSITA X-ray telescope on board the Spectrum-Poentgen-Gamma (SPG) observatory combines a large field of view and a large collecting area in the energy range between ~0.2 and ~8.0 keV. This gives the telescope the capability to perform uniform scanning observations of large sky areas. Aims. SRG/eROSITA performed scanning observations of the ~140 square degree eROSITA Final Equatorial Depth Survey field (the eFEDS field) as part of its performance verification phase ahead of the planned four year of all-sky scanning operations. The observing time of eFEDS was chosen to slightly exceed the depth expected in an equatorial field after the completion of the all-sky survey. While verifying the capability of eROSITA to perform large-area uniform surveys and saving as a test and training dataset to establish calibration and data analysis procedures, the eFEDS survey also constitutes the largest contiguous soft X-ray survey at this depth to date, supporting a range of early eROSITA survey science investigations. Here we (i) present a catalogue of detected X-ray sources in the eFEDS field providing information about source positions and extent, as well as fluxes in multiple energy bands, and (ii) document the suite of tools and procedures developed for eROSITA data processing and analysis, which were validated and optimised by the eFEDS work. Methods. The data were fed through a standard data processing pipeline, which appltes X-ray event calibration and provides a set of standard calibrated data products. A mutiti-stage source detection procedure, building in part on experience from XMM-Newton, was optimised and calibrated by performing realistic simulations of the eROSITA eFEDS observations. Source fluxes were computed in multiple standard energy bands by forced point source fitting and aperture photometry. We cross-matched the eROSITA eFEDS source catalogue with previous XMM-ATLAS observations, which confirmed the excellentt agreement of the eROSITA and XMM-ATLAS source fluxes. Astrometric corrections were performed by cross-matching the eROSITA source positions with an optical reference catalogue of quasars. Results. We present a primary catalogue of 27 910 X-ray sources (542 of which are significantly spatially extended) detected in the 0.2–2.3 keV energy range with detection likelihoods ≥6, corresponding to a (point source) flux limit of 6.5 × 10–15 erg cm–2 s–1 in the 0.5–2.0 keV energy band (80% completeness). A supplementary catalogue contains 4774 low-significance source candidates with detection likelihoods between 5 and 6. In addition, a hard-band sample of 246 sources detected in the energy range 22.3–5.0 keV above a detection likelihood of 10 is provided. In an appendix, we finally describe the dedicated data analysis software package, the eROSITA calibration database, and the standard calibrated data products.

We present the first weak-lensing mass calibration and X-ray scaling relations of galaxy clusters and groups selected in the eROSITA Final Equatorial Depth Survey (eFEDS) observed by Spectrum Roentgen Gamma/eROSITA over a contiguous footprint with an area of ≈140 deg2, using the three-year (S19A) weak-lensing data from the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Subaru Strategic Program survey. In this work, we study a sample of 434 optically confirmed galaxy clusters (and groups) at redshift 0.01 ≲ z ≲ 1.3 with a median of 0.35, of which 313 systems are uniformly covered by the HSC survey to enable the extraction of the weak-lensing shear observable. In a Bayesian population modeling, we perform a blind analysis for the weak-lensing mass calibration by simultaneously modeling the observed count rate η and the shear profile g+ of individual clusters through the count-rate-to-mass-and-redshift (η-M500-z) relation and the weak-lensing-mass-to-mass-and-redshift (MWL-M500-z) relation, respectively, while accounting for the bias in these observables using simulation-based calibrations. As a result, the count-rate-inferred and lensing-calibrated cluster mass is obtained from the joint modeling of the scaling relations, as the ensemble mass spanning a range of 1013h-1M⊙ ≲ M500 ≲ 1015h-1M⊙ with a median of ≈1014h-1M⊙ for the eFEDS sample. With the mass calibration, we further model the X-ray observable-to-mass-and-redshift relations, including the rest-frame soft-band and bolometric luminosity (LX and Lb), the emission-weighted temperature TX, the mass of intra-cluster medium Mg, and the mass proxy YX, which is the product of TX and Mg. Except for LX with a steeper dependence on the cluster mass at a statistically significant level, we find that the other X-ray scaling relations all show a mass trend that is statistically consistent with the self-similar prediction at a level of ≲1.7σ. Meanwhile, all these scaling relations show no significant deviation from the self-similarity in their redshift scaling. Moreover, no significant redshift-dependent mass trend is present. This work demonstrates the synergy between the eROSITA and HSC surveys in preparation for the forthcoming first-year eROSITA cluster cosmology.

Aims. The eROSITA Final Equatorial-Depth Survey has been carried out during the performance verification phase of the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma/eROSITA telescope and was completed in November 2019. This survey is designed to provide the first eROSITA-selected sample of clusters and groups and to test the predictions for the all-sky survey in the context of cosmological studies with clusters of galaxies. Methods. In the area of ∼140 square degrees covered by eFEDS, 542 candidate clusters and groups of galaxies were detected as extended X-ray sources with the eSASS source detection algorithm. We performed imaging and spectral analysis of the 542 cluster candidates with eROSITA X-ray data and studied the properties of the sample. Results. We provide the catalog of candidate galaxy clusters and groups detected by eROSITA in the eFEDS field down to a flux of ∼ 10 −14 erg s −1 cm −2 in the soft band (0.5-2 keV) within 1 . The clusters are distributed in the redshift range z =[0.01, 1.3] with a median redshift z median = 0.35. With eROSITA X-ray data, we measured the temperature of the intracluster medium within two radii, 300 kpc and 500 kpc, and constrained the temperature with > 2σ confidence level for ∼ 1/5 (102 out of 542) of the sample. The average temperature of these clusters is ∼2 keV. Radial profiles of flux, luminosity, electron density, and gas mass were measured from the precise modeling of the imaging data. The selection function, the purity, and the completeness of the catalog are examined and discussed in detail. The contamination fraction is ∼ 1/5 in this sample and is dominated by misidentified point sources. The X-ray luminosity function of the clusters agrees well with the results obtained from other recent X-ray surveys. We also find 19 supercluster candidates in this field, most of which are located at redshifts between 0.1 and 0.5, including one cluster at z ∼ 0.36 that was presented previously. Conclusions. The eFEDS cluster and group catalog at the final eRASS equatorial depth provides a benchmark proof of concept for the eROSITA All-Sky Survey extended source detection and characterization. We confirm the excellent performance of eROSITA for cluster science and expect no significant deviations from our pre-launch expectations for the final all-sky survey.

Context. Inferences about dark matter, dark energy, and the missing baryons all depend on the accuracy of our model of large-scale structure evolution. In particular, with cosmological simulations in our model of the Universe, we trace the growth of structure, and visualize the build-up of bigger structures from smaller ones and of gaseous filaments connecting galaxy clusters. Aims. Here we aim to reveal the complexity of the large-scale structure assembly process in great detail and on scales from tens of kiloparsecs up to more than 10 Mpc with new sensitive large-scale observations from the latest generation of instruments. We also aim to compare our findings with expectations from our cosmological model. Methods. We used dedicated SRG/eROSITA performance verification (PV) X-ray, ASKAP/EMU Early Science radio, and DECam optical observations of a ~15 deg2 region around the nearby interacting galaxy cluster system A3391/95 to study the warm-hot gas in cluster outskirts and filaments, the surrounding large-scale structure and its formation process, the morphological complexity in the inner parts of the clusters, and the (re-)acceleration of plasma. We also used complementary Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect data from the Planck survey and custom-made Galactic total (neutral plus molecular) hydrogen column density maps based on the HI4PI and IRAS surveys. We relate the observations to expectations from cosmological hydrodynamic simulations from the Magneticum suite. Results. We trace the irregular morphology of warm and hot gas of the main clusters from their centers out to well beyond their characteristic radii, r200. Between the two main cluster systems, we observe an emission bridge on large scale and with good spatial resolution. This bridge includes a known galaxy group but this can only partially explain the emission. Most gas in the bridge appears hot, but thanks to eROSITA’s unique soft response and large field of view, we discover some tantalizing hints for warm, truly primordial filamentary gas connecting the clusters. Several matter clumps physically surrounding the system are detected. For the “Northern Clump,” we provide evidence that it is falling towards A3391 from the X-ray hot gas morphology and radio lobe structure of its central AGN. Moreover, the shapes of these X-ray and radio structures appear to be formed by gas well beyond the virial radius, r100, of A3391, thereby providing an indirect way of probing the gas in this elusive environment. Many of the extended sources in the field detected by eROSITA are also known clusters or new clusters in the background, including a known SZ cluster at redshift z = 1. We find roughly an order of magnitude more cluster candidates than the SPT and ACT surveys together in the same area. We discover an emission filament north of the virial radius of A3391 connecting to the Northern Clump. Furthermore, the absorption-corrected eROSITA surface brightness map shows that this emission filament extends south of A3395 and beyond an extended X-ray-emitting object (the “Little Southern Clump”) towards another galaxy cluster, all at the same redshift. The total projected length of this continuous warm-hot emission filament is 15 Mpc, running almost 4 degrees across the entire eROSITA PV observation field. The Northern and Southern Filament are each detected at >4σ. The Planck SZ map additionally appears to support the presence of both new filaments. Furthermore, the DECam galaxy density map shows galaxy overdensities in the same regions. Overall, the new datasets provide impressive confirmation of the theoretically expected structure formation processes on the individual system level, including the surrounding warm-hot intergalactic medium distribution; the similarities of features found in a similar system in the Magneticum simulation are striking. Our spatially resolved findings show that baryons indeed reside in large-scale warm-hot gas filaments with a clumpy structure.