Validation of selection function, sample contamination and mass calibration in galaxy cluster samples Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • ABSTRACT We construct and validate the selection function of the MARD-Y3 galaxy cluster sample. This sample was selected through optical follow-up of the 2nd ROSAT faint source catalogue with Dark Energy Survey year 3 data. The selection function is modelled by combining an empirically constructed X-ray selection function with an incompleteness model for the optical follow-up. We validate the joint selection function by testing the consistency of the constraints on the X-ray fluxmass and richnessmass scaling relation parameters derived from different sources of mass information: (1) cross-calibration using South Pole Telescope Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SPT-SZ) clusters, (2) calibration using number counts in X-ray, in optical and in both X-ray and optical while marginalizing over cosmological parameters, and (3) other published analyses. We find that the constraints on the scaling relation from the number counts and SPT-SZ cross-calibration agree, indicating that our modelling of the selection function is adequate. Furthermore, we apply a largely cosmology independent method to validate selection functions via the computation of the probability of finding each cluster in the SPT-SZ sample in the MARD-Y3 sample and vice versa. This test reveals no clear evidence for MARD-Y3 contamination, SPT-SZ incompleteness or outlier fraction. Finally, we discuss the prospects of the techniques presented here to limit systematic selection effects in future cluster cosmological studies.

published proceedings

  • MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

altmetric score

  • 5.08

author list (cited authors)

  • Grandis, S., Klein, M., Mohr, J. J., Bocquet, S., Paulus, M., Abbott, T., ... Wilkinson, R.

citation count

  • 7

complete list of authors

  • Grandis, S||Klein, M||Mohr, JJ||Bocquet, S||Paulus, M||Abbott, TMC||Aguena, M||Allam, S||Annis, J||Benson, BA||Bertin, E||Bhargava, S||Brooks, D||Burke, DL||Rosell, A Carnero||Kind, M Carrasco||Carretero, J||Capasso, R||Costanzi, M||da Costa, LN||De Vicente, J||Desai, S||Dietrich, JP||Doel, P||Eifler, TF||Evrard, AE||Flaugher, B||Fosalba, P||Frieman, J||Garcia-Bellido, J||Gaztanaga, E||Gerdes, DW||Gruen, D||Gruendl, RA||Gschwend, J||Gutierrez, G||Hartley, WG||Hinton, SR||Hollowood, DL||Honscheid, K||James, DJ||Jeltema, T||Kuehn, K||Kuropatkin, N||Lima, M||Maia, MAG||Marshall, JL||Melchior, P||Menantcau, F||Miquel, R||Ogando, RLC||Palmese, A||Paz-Chinchon, E||Plazas, AA||Romer, AK||Roodman, A||Sanchez, E||Saro, A||Scarpine, V||Schubnell, M||Serrano, S||Sheldon, E||Smith, M||Stark, AA||Suchyta, E||Swanson, MEC||Tarle, G||Thomas, D||Tucker, DL||Varga, TN||Weller, J||Wilkinson, R

publication date

  • October 2020