2026A&A...706A.212Z -
Astronomy and Astrophysics, volume 706A212 (2026/2-1)
The SRG/eROSITA All-Sky Survey J-band follow-up observations for selected high-redshift galaxy cluster candidates.
ZIMMERMANN N., KLUGE M., GRANDIS S., SCHRABBACK T., BALZER F., BULBUL E., COMPARAT J., CSIZI B., GHIRARDINI V., JANSEN H., KLEINEBREIL F., LIU A., MERLONI A., RAMOS-CEJA M.E., SANDERS J., ZHANG X., ASCHENBRENNER P., ENESCU F., KEILER S., MARK M., RINNER M., SCHWEITZER P., SILVESTRE-ROSELLO E. and STEPMAN L.
Abstract (from CDS):
We selected galaxy cluster candidates from the high-redshift (BEST_Z > 0.9) end of the first SRG (Spectrum Roentgen Gamma)/eROSITA All-Sky Survey (eRASS1) galaxy cluster catalogue, for which we obtained moderately deep J-band imaging data with the OMEGA2000 camera at the 3.5 m telescope of the Calar Alto Observatory. We included J-band data of four additional targets obtained with the three-channel camera at the 2 m Fraunhofer telescope at the Wendelstein Observatory. We complemented the new J-band photometric catalogue with forced photometry in the i and z bands of the tenth data release of the Legacy Survey (LS DR10) to derive the radial colour distribution around the eROSITA/eRASS1 clusters. Without assuming a priori to find a cluster red sequence at a specific colour, we tried to find a radially weighted colour over-density to confirm the presence of high-redshift optical counterparts for the X-ray emission. We compared our confirmation with optical properties derived in earlier works based on LS DR10 data to refine the existing high-redshift cluster confirmation of eROSITA-selected clusters. We attempted to calibrate the colour-redshift relation including the new J-band data by comparing our obtained photometric redshift estimate with the spectroscopic redshift of a confirmed, optically selected, high-redshift galaxy cluster. We find a radial over-density of similar coloured galaxies for 12 out of 18 of the selected galaxy cluster candidates for which we also have i-band data. For 9 of these 12, we provide a photometric redshift estimate. We can report an increase in the relative colour measurement precision from 8% to 4% when including J-band data. In conclusion, our findings indicate a not insignificant spurious contaminant fraction at the high-redshift end (BEST_Z > 0.9) of the eROSITA/eRASS1 galaxy cluster catalogue. This underlines the need for wide and deep near-infrared imaging data for the confirmation and characterisation of high-z galaxy clusters.
Abstract Copyright:
© The Authors 2026
Journal keyword(s):
methods: data analysis - methods: observational - techniques: photometric - galaxies: clusters: general - cosmology: observations - infrared: galaxies
Status at CDS
:
All or part of tables of objects could be ingested in SIMBAD with priority 2.
Simbad objects:
3
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