Redshift modifications to HEAO A-1 cluster X-ray luminosities

Abstract

New redshift measurements for the 24 Abell galactic clusters are presented. The optical observations are described and applied to the cluster X-ray luminosity function, and the results are used to delimit the cluster contribution to the diffuse X-ray background (DXRB). The evolution of the X-ray luminosity function is then investigated. It is found that while simple two-parameter analytic forms do not fit this function very well, three-parameter forms such as the exponential times power law do fit it very well. Future redshift observations will probably not change the volume emissivity significantly, but they may in a statistically significant way affect the parameters of analytic fits which define the shape of the luminosity function. The contribution of rich clusters to the DXRB in the 2-6 keV range is 5.2 percent. Future redshift observations will modify this result by no more than a factor of about 1.1.