Identification of 3 cataclysmic variables detected by the ART-XC and eROSITA telescopes aboard SRG during the all-sky X-ray survey

Abstract: We report the discovery of three previously unknown cataclysmic variables in the data of the first year of the all-sky X-ray survey by the SRG orbital observatory. The sources were selected due to their brightness in the 4--12 keV band in the data of the Mikhail Pavlinsky ART-XC telescope. They are also detected by the eROSITA telescope, which provided accurate localizations and spectral data for broad-band spectral analysis. All three objects had been previously known as X-ray sources from the ROSAT all-sky survey and XMM-Newton slew survey, but their nature remained unknown. The X-ray spectra obtained by eROSITA and ART-XC are consistent with optically thin thermal emission with a temperature kT>~15 keV for SRGAJ194638.9+704552 and SRGAJ225412.8+690658 and kT>~5 keV for SRGAJ204547.8+672642. This, together with the inferred high X-ray luminosities ($2\times 10^{32}$-$3\times 10^{33}$ erg s$^{-1}$), strongly suggests that all three sources are CVs. We have obtained optical photometry and spectroscopy for these objects using the AZT-33IK 1.6-m telescope of the Sayan Observatory. The optical properties confirm the CV nature of the objects. We conclude that SRGAJ194638.9+704552 is an intermediate polar, SRGAJ204547.8+672642 is most likely a polar or an intermediate polar, and SRGAJ225412.8+690658 can be either a magnetic or a non-magnetic CV. We also measured an orbital period of 2.98~hours for SRGAJ204547.8+672642, based on TESS data. Three out of the planned eight SRG all-sky surveys have now been completed. We expect to find plenty of new CVs during the survey and to continue our optical follow-up program.