Supersoft X-ray sources in M31: II. ROSAT-detected supersoft sources in the ROSAT, Chandra and XMM eras

Abstract

We have performed Chandra observations during the past 3 years of 5 of the M31 supersoft X-ray sources (SSS) discovered with ROSAT. Surprisingly, only one of these sources has been detected, despite a predicted detection of about 20-80 counts. This has motivated a thorough check of the ROSAT M31 survey I data, including a relaxation of the hardness ratio requirement used to select SSS. This increases the number of SSS identified in survey I by 7. We then carried out a comparison with the ROSAT M31 survey II dataset which had hitherto not been explicitly investigated for SSS. We find that most of the ROSAT survey I sources are not detected, and only two new SSS are identified. The low detection rate in the ROSAT survey II and our Chandra observations implies that the variability time scale of SSS is a few months. If the majority of these sources are close-binary SSS with shell hydrogen burning, it further implies that half of these sources predominantly experience large mass transfer rates.