1996A&AS..120C.145G

We describe a project to search for faint X-ray transients that are likely to be black hole candidates (BHCs). Our overall objectives are to better constrain the total number of BHCs in the Galaxy and thus the formation and evolution of such systems. A secondary objective is to better understand the outburst mechanism in X-ray novae and the hard X-ray emission region in these systems. We report preliminary BATSE results for analysis of seven fields centered on known (historical) transients in which we search both for recurrent outbursts (to constrain recurrence times) as well as new sources. Preliminary light curves for each source region have been derived for the full 4 year BATSE data from occultation analysis, and occultation imaging has also been carried out to further constrain source positions. As reported in detail in companion papers, a new faint transient, GRO J1849-03 (cf. Zhang et al., 1996A&AS..120C.227Z), was discovered in one field, and probable hard X-ray outbursts of the recurrent transient 4U 1630-47 (cf. Bloser et al., 1996A&AS..120C.191B and 1996A&AS..120d.275B) were detected for the first time at hard X-ray energies. Initial results for the remaining fields are discussed, and implications for an extended survey are mentioned.