Context. XMM and Chandra opened a new area for the study of clusters of galaxies not only for cluster physics, but also for the detection of faint and distant clusters that were inaccessible with previous missions.Aims. This article presents 66 spectroscopically confirmed clusters (0.05 <= z <= 1.5) within an area of 6 deg(2) enclosed in the XMM-LSS survey. Almost two thirds have been confirmed with dedicated spectroscopy only and 10% have been confirmed with dedicated spectroscopy supplemented by literature redshifts.Methods. Sub-samples, or classes, of extended-sources are defined in a two-dimensional X-ray parameter space allowing for various degrees of completeness and contamination. We describe the procedure developed to assess the reality of these cluster candidates using the CFHTLS photometric data and spectroscopic information from our own follow-up campaigns.Results. Most of these objects are low-mass clusters, hence constituting a still poorly studied population. In a second step, we quantify the correlations between the optical properties such as richness or velocity dispersion and the cluster X-ray luminosities. We examine the relation of the clusters to the cosmic web. Finally, we review peculiar compact structures in the surveyed area such as very distant clusters and fossil groups.

We present a sample of 29 galaxy clusters from the XMM-LSS survey over an area of some 5 deg(2) out to a redshift of z = 1.05. The sample clusters, which represent about half of the X-ray clusters identified in the region, follow well-defined X-ray selection criteria and are all spectroscopically confirmed. For all clusters, we provide X-ray luminosities and temperatures as well as masses, obtained from dedicated spatial and spectral fitting. The cluster distribution peaks around z = 0.3 and T = 1.5 keV, half of the objects being groups with a temperature below 2 keV. Our L-X-T(z) relation points towards self-similar evolution, but does not exclude other physically plausible models. Assuming that cluster scaling laws follow self-similar evolution, our number density estimates up to z = 1 are compatible with the predictions of the concordance cosmology and with the findings of previous ROSAT surveys. Our well-monitored selection function allowed us to demonstrate that the inclusion of selection effects is essential for the correct determination of the evolution of the L-X-T relation, which may explain the contradictory results from previous studies. Extensive simulations show that extending the survey area to 10 deg(2) has the potential to exclude the non-evolution hypothesis, but those constraints on more refined intracluster medium models will probably be limited by the large intrinsic dispersion of the L-X-T relation, whatever be the sample size. We further demonstrate that increasing the dispersion in the scaling laws increases the number of detectable clusters, hence generating further degeneracy [in addition to sigma(8), Omega(m), L-X-T(z)] in the cosmological interpretation of the cluster number counts. We provide useful empirical formulae for the cluster mass-flux and mass-count rate relations as well as a comparison between the XMM-LSS mass sensitivity and that of forthcoming Sunyaev-Zel'dovich surveys.

Following the presentation of the XMM-Large Scale Structure (XMM-LSS) survey X-ray source detection package by Pacaud et al., we provide the source lists for the first surveyed 5.5 deg(2). The catalogues pertain to the [0.5-2] and [2-10] keV bands and contain in total 3385 pointlike or extended sources above a detection likelihood of 15 in either band. The agreement with deep log N-log S is excellent. The main parameters considered are position, count rate, source extent with associated likelihood values. A set of additional quantities such as astrometric corrections and fluxes are further calculated while errors on the position and count rate are deduced from simulations. We describe the construction of the band-merged catalogue allowing rapid subsample selection and easy cross-correlation with external multiwavelength catalogues. A small optical Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey multiband subset of objects are associated with each source along with an X-ray/optical overlay. We make the full X-ray images available in FITS format. The data are available at the Centre de Donnees de Strasbourg and, in a more extended form, at the Milan XMM-LSS survey data base.

Early next year, the International Liquid Mirror Telescope- a collaboration between astronomical institutions in Belgium, Canada and India- will see first light. The instrument will provide substantial, in-depth sky coverage and make an unprecedented number of nightly observations.

Using an optimal image subtraction technique, we have derived the V and R light curves of the four lensed QSO components of Q2237+0305 from the monitoring CCD frames obtained by the GLITP collaboration with the 2.6m NOT telescope in 1999/2000 (Alcalde et al. 2002). We give here a detailed account of the data reduction and analysis and of the error estimates. In agreement with Wozniak et al. (2000a,b), the good derived photometric accuracy of the GLITP data allows to discuss the possible interpretation of the light curve of component A as due to a microlensing event taking place in the deflecting galaxy. This interpretation is strengthened by the colour dependence of the early rise of the light curve of component A, as it probably corresponds to a caustics crossing by the QSO source.

We present the results of two-band CCD photometric monitoring of the gravitationally lensed quasar Q 0142-100 (UM 673).The data, obtained at ESO-La Silla with the 1.54 m Danish telescope in the Gunn i-band (October 1998 - September 1999) and in the Johnson V-band (October 1998 to December 2001), were analyzed using three different photometric methods. The light-curves obtained with all methods show variations, with a peak-to-peak amplitude of 0.14 magnitude in $V$. Although it was not possible to measure the time delay between the two lensed QSO images, the brighter component displays possible evidence for microlensing: it becomes bluer as it gets brighter, as expected under the assumption of differential magnification of a quasar accretion disk

Recent OGLE (Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment) and GLITP (Gravitational Lens International Time Project) monitoring data for QSO 2237+0305 (Huchra et al.) have been analyzed through a newly optimized N-body microlensing analysis method, the Local HAE Caustic Modeling (LOHCAM). This method simultaneously solves for the size of the source and N-body HAE (High Amplification Events) caustic shapes in the source plane and determines those sizes only as a function of the projected transverse velocity of the source. By applying this method to the light curves of the A & C lensed components in the Einstein Cross, these data are accurately reconstructed for the first time. From these modeling studies, we report several interesting results: the minimum number of microlenses required for possible caustic models, the possible evidence of an accretion disk with a central hole at the heart of the quasar, the size of the UV-continuum source, the masses of the microlenses being directly responsible for the observed HAEs, the estimated mass range of a super massive black hole (SMBH) in QSO 2237+0305 and finally some clues for the direction of the source motion in the sky.

We present VR observations of QSO 2237+ 0305 conducted by the Gravitational Lensing International Time Project collaboration from 1999 October 1 to 2000 February 3. The observations were made with the 2.56 m Nordic Optical Telescope at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma ( Spain). The pointspread function ( PSF) fitting method and an adapted version of the ISIS subtraction method have been used to derive the VR light curves of the four components ( A D) of the quasar. The mean errors range in the intervals 0.01-0.04 mag ( PSF fitting) and 0.01-0.02 mag ( ISIS subtraction), with the faintest component ( D) having the largest uncertainties. We address the relatively good agreement between the A and D light curves derived using different filters, photometric techniques, and telescopes. The new VR light curves of component A extend the time coverage of a high-magnification microlensing peak, which was discovered by the OGLE team.

The quadruple lens quasar system QSO 2237+0305, the Einstein Cross, has been daily monitored in two bands (V and R) during four months within the Gravitational Lenses International Time Project at the Nordic Optical Telescope. We report on some technical aspects of the observations and the quality of the data. We have developed a photometric model for obtaining the light-curves of the four QSO components.

We present V R observations of QSO 2237+0305 conducted by the GLITP collaboration from 1999 October 1 to 2000 February 3. The observations were made with the 2.56 m Nordic Optical Telescope at Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma (Spain). The PSF fitting method and an adapted version of the ISIS subtraction method have been used to derive the V R light curves of the four components (A–D) of the quasar. The mean errors range in the intervals 0.01–0.04 mag (PSF fitting) and 0.01–0.02 mag (ISIS subtraction), with the faintest component (D) having the largest uncertainties. We address the relatively good agreement between the A-D light curves derived using different Instituto de Astrof́ısica de Canarias, C/ Vı́a Láctea s/n, E-38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain; dalcalde@ll.iac.es, emg@ll.iac.es, jmunoz@ll.iac.es, rbarrena@ll.iac.es, vmotta@ll.iac.es, aoscoz@ll.iac.es, mserra@ot.iac.es Allée du 6 Août 17 B5c, B-4000 Sart Tilman, Belgium; moreau@astro.ulg.ac.be, libbrech@astro.ulg.ac.be, surdej@astro.ulg.ac.be, derop@astro.ulg.ac.be Laboratoire d’Astronomie, Université Lille 1, Impasse de l’Observatoire, F-59000 Lille, France Departamento de F́ısica Moderna, Universidad de Cantabria, Avda. de Los Castros s/n, E-39005 Santander, Cantabria, Spain; goicol@besaya.unican.es Present address: Max Planck Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, Heidelberg, Germany; puga@mpiahd.mpg.de Lehrstuhl Astrophysik, Institut für Physik, Universität Potsdam, Am Neuen Palais 10, D-14469 Potsdam, Germany; rmerino@astro.physik.uni-potsdam.de Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA; bmcleod@cfa.harvard.edu Departamento de Astronomı́a, Facultad de Ciencias, Iguá 4225, 11400 Montevideo, Uruguay