STATISTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE CHANDRA SOURCE CATALOG

Journal Article · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0067-0049/194/2/37· OSTI ID:21562598

Primini, Francis A; Evans, Ian N; Glotfelty, Kenny J; Anderson, Craig S; Bonaventura, Nina R; Chen, Judy C; Doe, Stephen M; Evans, Janet D; Fabbiano, Giuseppina; Galle, Elizabeth C; Gibbs, Danny G; Grier, John D; Hain, Roger M; Harbo, Peter N; Xiangqun, He; Karovska, Margarita ^[1]; Houck, John C; Davis, John E; Nowak, Michael A ^[2]

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1. Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
2. MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

The first release of the Chandra Source Catalog (CSC) contains {approx}95,000 X-ray sources in a total area of 0.75% of the entire sky, using data from {approx}3900 separate ACIS observations of a multitude of different types of X-ray sources. In order to maximize the scientific benefit of such a large, heterogeneous data set, careful characterization of the statistical properties of the catalog, i.e., completeness, sensitivity, false source rate, and accuracy of source properties, is required. Characterization efforts of other large Chandra catalogs, such as the ChaMP Point Source Catalog or the 2 Mega-second Deep Field Surveys, while informative, cannot serve this purpose, since the CSC analysis procedures are significantly different and the range of allowable data is much less restrictive. We describe here the characterization process for the CSC. This process includes both a comparison of real CSC results with those of other, deeper Chandra catalogs of the same targets and extensive simulations of blank-sky and point-source populations.

• OSTI ID: 21562598
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series, Vol. 194, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0067-0049/194/2/37; ISSN 0067-0049
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
CATALOGS
SKY
X-RAY SOURCES
DOCUMENT TYPES
RADIATION SOURCES