Harnessing the XMM-Newton data: X-ray spectral modelling of 4XMM-DR11 detections and 4XMM-DR11s sources

¹ INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, via Frascati 33, 00040 Monteporzio Catone, Italy
² Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, PO Box 64, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
³ Instituto de Física de Cantabria (CSIC-Universidad de Cantabria), Avenida de los Castros, 39005 Santander, Spain
⁴ Juelich Supercomputing Centre, Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH, 52425 Juelich, Germany
⁵ Institute for Astronomy Astrophysics Space Applications and Remote Sensing (IAASARS), National Observatory of Athens, Ioannou Metaxa & Vasileos Pavlou, Penteli 15236, Greece
⁶ Université Paris Saclay and Université Paris Cité, CEA, CNRS, AIM, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
⁷ Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstraße 1, Garching 85748, Germany
⁸ Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg, UMR 7550, Strasbourg 67000, France
⁹ Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), c. Martí i Franquès, 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
¹⁰ Departament de Fîsica Quàntica i Astrofísica (FQA), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), c. Martì i Franquès, 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
¹¹ Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), c/ Esteve Terradas, 1, Edifici RDIT, Despatx 212, Campus del Baix Llobregat UPC – Parc Mediterrani de la Tecnologia, 08860 Castelldefels, Spain
¹² IRAP, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CNES, 9 Avenue du Colonel Roche, BP 44346, 31028 Toulouse Cedex 4, France

^★ Corresponding author: akke.viitanen@inaf.it

Received: 23 April 2025
Accepted: 24 September 2025

Abstract

The XMM-Newton X-ray observatory has played a prominent role in astrophysics, conducting precise and thorough observations of the X-ray sky for the past two decades. The most recent iteration of the XMM-Newton catalogue, 4XMM, and one of its latest data releases (DRs), DR11, mark significant improvements over previous XMM-Newton catalogues, serving as a cornerstone for comprehending the diverse inhabitants of the X-ray sky. In this investigation, we employ X-ray detections and spectra extracted from the 4XMM-DR11 catalogue, subjecting them to fitting procedures using simple models. Our study operates within the framework of the XMM2ATHENA project, which focuses on developing state-of-the-art methods that exploit existing XMM-Newton data. In this study, we introduce and publicly release four catalogues containing measurements derived from X-ray spectral modelling of sources. The first catalogue encompasses outcomes obtained by fitting an absorbed power-law model to all the extracted spectra for individual detections within the 4XMM-DR11 dataset. The second catalogue presents results obtained by fitting both an absorbed power-law and an absorbed black-body model to all unique physical sources listed in the 4XMM-DR11s catalogue, which documents source detection results from overlapping XMM-Newton observations. For the third catalogue we use the five band count rates derived from the pipe line detection of X-ray sources to mimic low resolution spectra to get a rough estimate of the spectral shape (absorbed power law) of all 4XMMDR11 detections. In the fourth catalogue, we conducted spectral analyses for the subset of identified sources with extracted spectra, employing various models based on their classification into categories such as active galactic nuclei (AGNs), stars, X-ray binaries, and cataclysmic variables. Finally, the scientific potential of these catalogues is highlighted by discussing the capabilities of optical and mid-infrared colours for selecting absorbed AGNs.