GENERAL PROPERTIES OF X-RAY NOVAE

As a by-product of my Ph.D. Thesis (written long time ago, in a University far away...) I compiled a - somewhat - complete list of X-ray Novae, or better, Soft X-ray Transients (SXTs), observed since the beginning of X-ray astronomy.
Given that:

• I never had the chance to publish this list;
• the information on these objects is in continuous evolution;
• at least one new object belonging to this class is discovered every year;

This list contains at the moment 53 objects (the most recent entry being source MAXI J1820+070) responding to at least three of the following four characteristics:

• transient X-ray emission with peak luminosity above 10^36 erg/s or peak flux above 0.1 Crab;
• X-ray light curve with (approximately) fast rise and exponential decay shape and about 1 month of X-ray detectability;
• X-ray spectrum with soft X-ray excess and hard power-law tail;
• optical emission at maximum light brighter by at least 4 magnitudes with respect to the quiescent state.

The list is divided into two sets of tables, the first one containing objects with Right Ascension ranging from 00:00:00.00 to 17:39:59.99, and the other one with objects between 17:40:00.00 and 23:59:59.99 in Right Ascension; the reference equinox is J2000. This has become necessary as a single table could not fit anymore in one page due to the growing number of this kind of objects (well, blame it on those which erupted for the first time after year 2000, not on me!).
The properties of each SXT are reported in 47 columns. Here is a small legend for each one of them:

1. right acension (J2000);
2. declination (J2000);
3. galactic longitude;
4. galactic latitude;
5. date of last X-ray outburst;
6. years in which previous outbursts were recorded (in case the object is recurrent or `periodic');
7. X-ray flux at maximum in Crab units (the note `var.' indicates, only for recurrent SXTs, that maxima with different intensities were recorded during different outbursts);
8. detection of X-ray bursts;
9. detection of X-ray QPOs. In case of QPO detection, the frequencies (in Hertz) are also reported;
10. X-ray luminosity at maximum (in erg/s);
11. V-band magnitude (or in a different optical band if V-band data are not available) at maximum;
12. X-ray to optical (or near-infrared, where indicated) luminosity ratio at maximum;
13. detection of a transient radio counterpart;
14. reference(s) reporting the X-ray spectrum at maximum;
15. reference(s) reporting the optical spectrum at maximum;
16. E(B-V) color excess value (in magnitudes);
17. distance to the source (in kpc);
18. height above (or below) the galactic plane (in pc);
19. absolute V-band magnitude at maximum light (or in a different optical band if V-band data are not available);
20. superhump period (in hours), if detected;
21. detection of dips or eclipses;
22. detection of other oscillations in the light curves;
23. e-folding decay time of X-ray light curve (in days);
24. decay rate in the optical light curve (in mag/day);
25. times of secondary maxima in the light curves (expressed in days after the beginning of the X-ray outburst). An "X" indicates that the detection occurred the X-rays only;
26. detection of minioutbursts in the optical light curve;
27. reference(s) reporting the X-ray spectrum during decay (or at quiescence);
28. reference(s) reporting the optical spectrum during decay (or at quiescence);
29. quiescent magnitude in the V-band (or in a different optical band if V-band data are not available);
30. magnitude difference between maximum light and quiescence in the V-band (or in a different optical band if V-band data are not available);
31. absolute quiescent optical magnitude in the V-band (or in a different optical band if V-band data are not available);
32. X-ray to optical luminosity ratio at quiescence;
33. orbital period (in hours);
34. mass function of the primary (in solar masses);
35. inclination of the system (in degrees);
36. secondary-to-primary component mass ratio;
37. mass of compact object;
38. mass of secondary star;
39. orbital separation (in solar radii);
40. Roche lobe radius of the compact star;
41. Roche lobe radius of the secondary star;
42. spectral type of the secondary;
43. detection of lithium has been detected on the secondary star atmosphere;
44. systemic velocity with respect to the Sun (in km/s);
45. systemic velocity corrected for the motion of the Sun inside the Galaxy (in km/s);
46. comments and notes of remarkable importance;
47. classification of the compact object.

If you have comments, suggestions, corrections, troubles, etc. on this, you are invited to send me an e-mail.

Back to Nicola Masetti's Home Page