******************************************* * * * INTRODUCTION TO THE ONLINE VERSION * * * ******************************************* The objects listed in this catalogue are subdivided into three main object classes, i.e. into " C A T A C L Y S M I C B I N A R I E S ", " L O W - M A S S X - R A Y B I N A R I E S " and " R E L A T E D O B J E C T S ". The defining characteristics of the three object classes used here are the following: C A T A C L Y S M I C B I N A R I E S are semidetached binaries consisting of a white dwarf primary (or a white dwarf precursor) and a low-mass secondary which is filling its critical Roche lobe. The secondary is not necessarily unevol- ved. It may even be a highly evolved star as for example in the case of the AM CVn-type stars. A more detailed description of the main characteristics of these objects may be found in Warner (1995) or Hellier (2001). In addition, we list among the cataclysmic binaries also the su- persoft binary X-ray sources, because these too are semidetached binaries containing a white dwarf, though one in a state of sus- tained nuclear burning. More information about these objects can be found in Greiner (1996, 2000). L O W - M A S S X - R A Y B I N A R I E S are semidetached binaries consisting of either a neutron-star or a black hole primary and a low-mass secondary which is filling its critical Roche lobe. Observationally they are distinguished from the luminous, massive X-ray binaries by the following main proper- ties: in general the spectra of the low-mass X-ray binaries (at maximum light) are devoid of normal stellar absorption features. The ratio of their X-ray to optical luminosities is much larger than unity, (typically it ranges from about 100 to about 10000). A more detailed description of the main characteristics of these objects may be found among the review articles in Lewin and van der Klis (2006). R E L A T E D O B J E C T S are detached binaries consisting of either a white dwarf or a white dwarf precursor primary and of a low-mass secondary. The secondary may also be a highly evolved star. Further information may be found e.g. in Ritter (1986), Bond (1989), de Kool and Ritter (1993), or Schreiber and Gaensicke (2003). We do not list among the related objects detached binaries con- taining a neutron star, or, for the lack of known objects, a black hole. Thus we explicitly exclude binary radio pulsars from our compilation because these are documented in the Australian Tele- scope National Facility Pulsar Catalogue (Manchester, Hobbs, Teoh, Hobbs 2005) which is available at http://www.atnf.csiro.au/research/pulsar/psrcat/. According to the subdivision in these three object classes the catalogue contains three major sections, hereafter called catalogue sections. Each of the three catalogue sections is further subdivided into a table section (TS), where a few characterizing parameters of the object are tabulated, and into a reference section (RS), where a selection of refe- rences is given. Within each of the table sections, the objects are listed in order of decreasing orbital period. In the corresponding re- ference section, however, the objects are listed in lexigraphical order. The quantities listed in the table section and the corresponding abbreviations used in the table headings are described in a separate "Description" section. We do provide limited information about where the values given in the tables are taken from. This is done as follows: at the end of a refer- ence from which a given quantity, say XYZ, was taken, this quantity is given in parentheses, i.e. as (XYZ). The quantities for which this is done are: the periods (Orb.Per., 2. Per., 3. Per., 4. Per.), the spectral types (Spectr1, Spectr2), the mass ratio (M1/M2), the orbital inclination (Incl), the masses (M1, M2), and, where appropriate, the radii (R1, R2) and the eccentricity (e). The catalogue is supplemented by a list giving references to published finding charts (FC) of the objects. In this section, the objects of all three classes are merged and listed in lexigraphical order. The full form of abbreviated references is given at the end of the section. The "Who's Who?" section is a cross-referenced list of alias names of the objects catalogued. In order to keep this list short, the full list of alternative object names appears only once for each object and is to be found under the standard name used in this catalogue. If an object is sought under one of its alternative names, reference to the standard name is given. Wherever possible the variable name given in the "General Catalogue of Variable Stars" (Kholopov et al. 1985a, 1985b, 1987), or in its online version at http://www.sai.msu.su/groups/cluster/gcvs/gcvs/, or in the "Name Lists of Variable Stars" (up to and including the 80th list (Kazarovets et al. (2011a, 2011b, 2013)) is used as the standard name here. This section includes also a list of references to various catalogue acronyms that appear in this compilation. More complete infor- mation may be found online via the Centre de donnees astronomiques de Strasbourg (CDS) at http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/Dic, or from the Astronomical Data Center at http://adc.gsfc.nasa.gov/adc/. References ---------- Bond, H.E. 1989, in: Planetary Nebulae, S. Torres-Peimbert (ed.), Kluwer, Dordrecht, p. 251 de Kool, M., Ritter, H. 1993, A&A 267, 397 Greiner, J. (ed.) 1996, Supersoft X-Ray Sources, Lecture Notes in Physics Vol. 472, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Greiner, J. 2000, http://www.aip.de/People/JGreiner/sss/ssscat.html Hellier, C. 2001, Cataclysmic Variable Stars, Springer-Verlag, Berlin Kazarovets, E.V., et al. (5 authors) 2011a, IBVS No. 5969 Kazarovets, E.V., et al. (5 authors) 2011b, IBVS No. 6008 Kazarovets, E.V., et al. (5 authors) 2013, IBVS No. 6052 Kholopov, P.N., et al. (11 authors) 1985a, General Catalogue of Variable Stars, 4th edition, (Moscow, Nauka), Vol. I Kholopov, P.N., et al. (13 authors) 1985b, General Catalogue of Variable Stars, 4th edition, (Moscow, Nauka), Vol. II Kholopov, P.N., et al. (13 authors) 1987, General Catalogue of Variable Stars, 4th edition, (Moscow, Nauka), Vol. III Lewin, W.H.G., van der Klis, M. (eds.) 2006, Compact Stellar X-Ray Sources, Cambridge Astrophysics Series Vol. 39, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Liu, Q.Z., van Paradijs, J., van den Heuvel, E.P.J. 2007, A&A 469, 807 Manchester, R.N., Hobbs, G.B., Teoh, A., Hobbs, M. 2005, AJ 129, 1993 Ritter, H. 1986, A&A 169, 139 Schreiber, M.R., Gaensicke, B.T. 2003, A&A 406, 305 Warner, B. 1995, Cataclysmic Variable Stars, Cambridge Astrophysics Series Vol. 28, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge