Populations of highly variable X-ray sources in the XMM-Newton slew survey

We present the identifications of a flux-limited sample of highly variable X-ray sources on long time-scales from the second catalogue of the XMM-Newton SLew survey (XMMSL2). The carefully constructed sample, comprising 265 sources (2.5 per cent) selected from the XMMSL2 clean catalogue, displayed X-ray variability of a factor of more than 10 in 0.2-2 keV compared to the ROSAT All Sky Survey. Of the sample sources, 94.3 per cent are identified. The identification procedure follows a series of cross-matches with astronomical data bases and multiwavelength catalogues to refine the source position and identify counterparts to the X-ray sources. Assignment of source type utilizes a combination of indicators including counterparts offset, parallax measurement, spectral colours, X-ray luminosity, and light-curve behaviour. We identified 40 per cent of the variables with stars, 10 per cent with accreting binaries, and at least 30.4 per cent with active galactic nuclei. The rest of the variables are identified as galaxies. It is found that the mean effective temperatures of the highly variable stars are lower than those of less variable stars. Our sample of highly variable AGN tend to have lower black hole masses, redshifts, and marginally lower soft X-ray luminosities compared to the less variable ones, while no difference was found in the Eddington ratio distributions. Five flaring events are tidal disruption events published previously. This study has significantly increased the number of variable sources in XMMSL2 with identifications and provides greater insight on the nature of many o f the sources, enabling further studies of highly variable X-ray sources.