Vol 49, No 1 (2023)

We present the results of our search for massive galaxy clusters among extended X-ray sources from the SRG/eROSITA survey using data from the Planck survey and data from optical and infrared sky surveys. Optical observations of these clusters are carried out with the 6-m telescope at the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences (BTA), the 2.5-m telescope at the Caucasus Mountain Observatory of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute of the Moscow State University (AZT-33IK), and the 1.5-m Russian–Turkish telescope (RTT-150). We provide data on the optical identifications and spectroscopic redshift measurements for 11 massive galaxy clusters with masses higher than @ located at redshifts 
–@. Such clusters are very rare objects; most of the clusters with such a high mass in the observable Universe have already been detected previously by the Sunyaev–Zeldovich effect in the Planck all-sky survey. Being anomalous, they can be sensitive indicators of possible deviations of the cosmology from the standard @ model with a quasi-flat spectrum of initial Gaussian perturbations.

We present the results of our search for highly variable active galactic nuclei (AGNs) the X-ray flux from which changed by more than an order of magnitude during the SRG/eROSITA all-sky survey. Using the eROSITA data obtained in the period from December 2019 to February 2022, we have found 1325 sources the X-ray flux from which in the 0.3–2.3 keV energy band changed by more than a factor of 10 at a confidence level of at least 99.73
. Of them, 635 objects have been classified as AGNs or AGN candidates. We describe the procedure of searching for highly variable sources and the selection of extragalactic objects among them and describe the statistical properties of the produced catalog. We provide a catalog of 49 sources for which a statistically significant flux in their low state was detected. For the latter we provide their light curves and X-ray spectra and discuss in detail the most interesting of them.

The four completed six-month sky surveys with the eROSITA telescope onboard the SRG orbital observatory allow tidal disruption events (TDEs) in galactic nuclei to be searched for by their X-ray variability. In this case, variable active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are detected in much larger quantities, for the elimination of which fairly stringent criteria have to be used. Some TDEs can be missed or misclassified as probable AGNs. Optical spectroscopy needs to be performed for the final identification of TDEs among the extragalactic SRG/eROSITA transients. We consider a set of criteria by which TDEs can be distinguished from AGNs based on optical spectra and photometric information. In particular, we propose to use the ratio of the X-ray luminosity to the [O III] 5007 Å luminosity. To test the proposed method, we consider a sample of 15 extragalactic SRG/eROSITA transients whose X-ray flux changed by more than a factor of 7 between two adjacent surveys. Spectra have been taken for all these objects with Russian optical telescopes: RTT-150, AZT-33IK, RC2500, and BTA. We have managed to reveal five new and one previously known TDEs and to classify seven sources as AGNs. The nature of two more transients remains in question. The proposed method will help to set priorities to obtain a maximally complete and reliable sample of TDEs in the SRG/eROSITA survey.