The Chandra Deep Wide-Field Survey: A New Chandra Legacy Survey in the Boötes Field I. X-ray Point Source Catalog, Number Counts and Multi-Wavelength Counterparts

• Published in: arXiv.org 2020-09
• Main Authors: Masini, A, Hickox, R C, Carroll, C M, Aird, J, Alexander, D M, Assef, R J, Bower, R, Brodwin, M, Brown, M J I, Chatterjee, S, Chen, C -T J, Dey, A, DiPompeo, M A, Duncan, K J, Eisenhardt, P R M, man, W R, Gonzalez, A H, Goulding, A D, Hainline, K N, Jannuzi, B T, Jones, C, Kochanek, C S, Kraft, R, K -S Lee, Miller, E D, Mullaney, J, Myers, A D, Ptak, A, Stanford, A, Stern, D, Vikhlinin, A, Wake, D A, Murray, S S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Angular resolution; Fluxes; Occultation; Red shift; Space telescopes; X ray sources; X ray telescopes
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2009.03317

We present a new, ambitious survey performed with the Chandra X-ray Observatory of the 9.3 deg\(^2\) Bo\"otes field of the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey. The wide field probes a statistically representative volume of the Universe at high redshift. The Chandra Deep Wide-Field Survey exploits the excellent sensitivity and angular resolution of Chandra over a wide area, combining 281 observations spanning 15 years, for a total exposure time of 3.4 Ms, and detects 6891 X-ray point sources down to limiting fluxes of \(4.7\times10^{-16}\), \(1.5\times10^{-16}\), and \(9\times10^{-16}\) erg cm\(^{-2}\) s\(^{-1}\), in the \(0.5-7\) keV, \(0.5-2\) keV, and \(2-7\) keV bands, respectively. The robustness and reliability of the detection strategy is validated through extensive, state-of-the-art simulations of the whole field. Accurate number counts, in good agreement with previous X-ray surveys, are derived thanks to the uniquely large number of point sources detected, which resolve \(65.0 \pm 12.8\%\) of the cosmic X-ray background between \(0.5-2\) keV and \(81.0 \pm 11.5\%\) between \(2-7\) keV. Exploiting the wealth of multi-wavelength data available on the field, we assign redshifts to \(\sim 94\%\) of the X-ray sources, estimate their obscuration and derive absorption-corrected luminosities. We provide an electronic catalog containing all the relevant quantities needed for future investigations.