1999ApJ...511..304S

The 0.1-2.4 keV bandpass of the ROSAT Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) offers an opportunity to study the very soft X-ray continuum of bright low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). In 46 pointed observations, 23 LMXBs were observed with count rates between 0.4 and 165.4 counts.s^–1. The survey identified a total of 29 different luminosity levels, which are compared with observations and identified spectral states from other missions. The atoll source 4U 1705-44 was observed near Eddington luminosities in an unusually high intensity state. Spectral analysis provided a measure of the interstellar column density for all 49 observations. The sensitivity of spectral fits depends strongly on column density. Fits to highly absorbed spectra are merely insensitive toward any particular spectral model. Sources with column densities well below 10²² cm^–2 are best fitted by power laws, while the blackbody model gives clearly worse fits to the data. Most single-component fits from sources with low column densities, however, are not acceptable at all. The inclusion of a blackbody component in eight sources can improve the fits significantly. The obtained emission radii of less than 5 km suggest emission from the neutron star surface. In 10 sources acceptable fits can only be achieved by including soft-line components. With a spectral resolution of the PSPC of 320-450 eV, between 0.6 and 1.2 keV unresolved broad-line features were detected around 0.65, 0.85, and 1.0 keV. The line fluxes range within 10^–11 and 10^–12 ergs.cm^–2.s^–1, with equivalent widths between 24 and 210 eV. In LMC X-2, 2S 0918-549, and 4U 1254-690, line emission is indicated for the first time. The soft emission observed in 4U 0614+091 compares with recent ASCA results, with a new feature indicated at 1.31 keV. The deduced line fluxes in 4U 1820-30 and Cyg X-2 showed variability of a factor of 2 within timescales of 1-2 days. Average fluxes of line components in 4U 1820-30 varied by the same factor over a time span of 3 yr.