2011A&A...530A.110S

Multi-wavelength surveys for clusters of galaxies are opening a window on the elusive high-redshift (z>1) cluster population. Well controlled statistical samples of distant clusters will enable us to answer questions about their cosmological context, early assembly phases and the thermodynamical evolution of the intracluster medium. We report on the detection of two z>1 systems, XMMUJ0302.2-0001 and XMMUJ1532.2-0836, as part of the [XMM-Newton Distant Cluster Project (XDCP) sample. We investigate the nature of the sources, measure their spectroscopic redshift and determine their basic physical parameters. The results of the present paper are based on the analysis of [XMM-Newton archival data, optical/near-infrared imaging and deep optical follow-up spectroscopy of the clusters. We confirm the X-ray source XMMUJ0302.2-0001 as a gravitationally bound, bona fide cluster of galaxies at spectroscopic redshift z=1.185. We estimate its M₅₀₀ mass to (1.6±0.3)x10¹⁴M_☉ from its measured X-ray luminosity. This ranks the cluster among intermediate mass system. In the case of XMMUJ1532.2-0836 we find the X-ray detection to be coincident with a dynamically bound system of galaxies at z=1.358. Optical spectroscopy reveals the presence of a central active galactic nucleus, which can be a dominant source of the detected X-ray emission from this system. We provide upper limits of X-ray parameters for the system and discuss cluster identification challenges in the high-redshift low-mass cluster regime. A third, intermediate redshift (z=0.647) cluster, XMMUJ0302.1-0000, is serendipitously detected in the same field as XMMUJ0302.2-0001. We provide its analysis as well.