Understanding our Universe with the REFLEX II cluster survey

Clusters of galaxies provide unique laboratories to study astrophysical processes on large scales, and are also important probes for cosmology. X-ray observations are still the best way to find and characterise clusters. The extended ROSAT-ESO flux-limited X-ray (REFLEX II) galaxy clusters form currently the largest well-defined and tested X-ray galaxy cluster sample, providing a census of the large-scale structure of the Universe out to redshifts of z-0.4. I will describe the properties of the survey and the X-ray luminosity function, which led to our recent cosmological constraints on omegaM-sigma8. They tighten the previous constraints from other X-ray experiments, showing good agreements with those from the Planck clusters, but some tension exists with the Planck CMB constraints. The second part of my talk will concern the structure of the local Universe, and the study of the first X-ray superclusters. The density of the clusters reveals an under-dense region in the nearby Universe, which has an interesting implication for the cosmological parameters. Using the X-ray superclusters, that are constructed with a physically motivated procedure, I will show environmental aspects that X-ray superclusters provide, and compare to cosmological N-body simulations.