X-ray transient AGN and galaxies, and why we need new soft X-ray surveys

Abstract

X-ray transience is the most extreme form of variability observed in AGN or normal non-active galaxies. While factors of 2-3 on timescales of days to years are quite common among AGN, X-ray transients appear only once and vanish from the X-ray sky years later. The ROSAT All-Sky Survey with its sensitivity to energies down to 0.1 keV was the an ideal tool to discover these sources. X-ray transience in AGN or galaxies can be caused by dramatic changes in the accretion rate of the central black hole or by changes of the properties of the accretion disk. So far only a handful of sources are known. In order to estimate how often such an event occurs in a galaxy, a new soft X-ray survey is needed. In these proceedings I describe the currently known X-ray transient AGN and galaxies and will argue for a new soft X-ray survey in order to discover more of these extreme X-ray sources.