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The HEAO-1 soft X-ray survey of cataclysmic variable starsA survey of the soft X-ray emission from 206 cataclysmic variable stars, including dwarf novae in optically quiescent states, classical novae, recurrent novae, nova-like objects and polars, is reported. This is an extension of a previous survey of dwarf novae in outbursts by Cordova et al. (1980). The number of surveyed stars that correspond to features greater than 2 sigma is not in excess of the number of chance coincidences expected on the basis of a random sample of positions distributed over the entire sky. While a few cataclysmic variables have been previously identified as X-ray sources, the results of this survey imply that cataclysmic variables as a class must be, at best, low-luminosity X-ray sources with fluxes below the HEAO-1 A2 detector's sensitivity limit of a few times 10 to the -11th erg/sq cm-s in the energy range 0.1-3 keV. The X-ray luminosities of the cataclysmic variables are consistent with predictions from disk accretion models, provided that a wide range of accretion rates apply.
Document ID
19810055897
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Cordova, F. A.
(California, University Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM; California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States)
Jensen, K. A.
(Los Alamos Scientific Lab. NM, United States)
Nugent, J. J.
(California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 11, 2013
Publication Date
July 1, 1981
Publication Information
Publication: Royal Astronomical Society
Subject Category
Astronomy
Accession Number
81A40301
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS5-25049
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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