Over six years of operation, the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey (CRTS) has identified 1043 cataclysmic variable (CV) candidates --- the largest sample of CVs from a single survey to date. Here we provide spectroscopic identification of 85 system
s fainter than g<19, including three AMCVn binaries, one helium-enriched CV, one polar and one new eclipsing CV. We analyse the outburst properties of the full sample and show that it contains a large fraction of low accretion rate CVs with long outburst recurrence times. We argue that most of the high accretion rate dwarf novae in the survey footprint have already been found and that future CRTS discoveries will be mostly low accretion rate systems. We find that CVs with white dwarf dominated spectra have significantly fewer outbursts in their CRTS light curves compared to disc-dominated CVs, reflecting the difference in their accretion rates. Comparing the CRTS sample to other samples of CVs, we estimate the overall external completeness to be 23.6 per cent, but show that as much as 56 per cent of CVs have variability amplitudes that are too small to be selected using the transient selection criteria employed by current ground-based surveys. The full table of CRTS CVs, including their outburst and spectroscopic properties examined in this paper, is provided in the online materials.
We present phase-resolved spectroscopy of two new short period low accretion rate magnetic binaries, SDSSJ125044.42+154957.3 (Porb = 86 min) and SDSSJ151415.65+074446.5 (Porb = 89 min). Both systems were previously identified as magnetic white dwarfs
from the Zeeman splitting of the Balmer absorption lines in their optical spectra. Their spectral energy distributions exhibit a large near-infrared excess, which we interpret as a combination of cyclotron emission and possibly a late type companion star. No absorption features from the companion are seen in our optical spectra. We derive the orbital periods from a narrow, variable H_alpha emission line which we show to originate on the companion star. The high radial velocity amplitude measured in both systems suggests a high orbital inclination, but we find no evidence for eclipses in our data. The two new systems resemble the polar EF Eri in its prolonged low state and also SDSSJ121209.31+013627.7, a known magnetic white dwarf plus possible brown dwarf binary, which was also recovered by our method.
We discuss the origin of the optical variations in the Narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4051 and present the results of a cross-correlation study using X-ray and optical light curves spanning more than 12 years. The emission is highly variable in all
wavebands, and the amplitude of the optical variations is found to be smaller than that of the X-rays, even after correcting for the contaminating host galaxy flux falling inside the photometric aperture. The optical power spectrum is best described by an unbroken power law model with slope $alpha=1.4^{+0.6}_{-0.2}$ and displays lower variability power than the 2-10 keV X-rays on all time-scales probed. We find the light curves to be significantly correlated at an optical delay of $1.2^{+1.0}_{-0.3}$ days behind the X-rays. This time-scale is consistent with the light travel time to the optical emitting region of the accretion disc, suggesting that the optical variations are driven by X-ray reprocessing. We show, however, that a model whereby the optical variations arise from reprocessing by a flat accretion disc cannot account for all the optical variability. There is also a second significant peak in the cross-correlation function, at an optical delay of $39^{+2.7}_{-8.4}$ days. The lag is consistent with the dust sublimation radius in this source, suggesting that there is a measurable amount of optical flux coming from the dust torus. We discuss the origin of the additional optical flux in terms of reprocessing of X-rays and reflection of optical light by the dust.
We present the results of concurrent X-ray and optical monitoring of the Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 79 over a period of more than five years. We find that on short to medium time-scales (days to a few tens of days) the 2-10 keV X-ray and optical u and V ba
nd fluxes are significantly correlated, with a delay between the bands consistent with zero days. We show that most of these variations may be well reproduced by a model where the short-term optical variations originate from reprocessing of X-rays by an optically thick accretion disc. The optical light curves, however, also display long time-scale variations over thousands of days, which are not present in the X-ray light curve. These optical variations must originate from an independent variability mechanism and we show that they can be produced by variations in the (geometrically) thin disc accretion rate as well as by varying reprocessed fractions through changes in the location of the X-ray corona.
