A Serendipitous Galaxy Cluster Survey with {\em XMM\/}
P.T.P. Viana (1,2), A.K. Romer (3), A.R. Liddle (4), R.G. Mann (5)
(1) Centro de Astrof\'{\i}sica da Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas s/n, 4150 Porto, Portugal
This contribution briefly describes a serendipitous galaxy cluster survey that we plan to conduct with the {\em XMM\/} X--ray satellite. We have modelled the expected properties of such a survey for three different cosmological models, using an extended Press--Schechter formalism, combined with a detailed characterisation of the expected capabilities of the EPIC camera on board {\em XMM\/}. We find that the number of clusters in the catalogue, as well as their redshift distribution, is strongly dependent on the cosmological parameter $\Omega_0$, and to a lesser extent also on $\Omega_\Lambda$, thus making the survey well suited to place tight constraints on the first and lead to a rough estimate of the second. The survey would also facilitate a variety of follow-up projects, including the quantification of evolution in the cluster X-ray luminosity--temperature relation, the study of high-redshift galaxies via gravitational lensing, follow-up observations of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect and foreground analyses of cosmic microwave background maps.