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P. Zhao, J.E. Grindlay, P. Edmonds, M.R. Garcia, J.E. McClintock (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), H. Cohn, P. Lugger, S. Slavin (Indiana U.)
The Chandra Multiwavelength Plane (ChaMPlane) Survey is a project to identify a large sample of serendipitous X-ray sources in the galactic plane (|b| \lesssim 10\circ), including cataclysmic variables, quiescent low mass X-ray binaries (qLMXBs: including both black hole and neutron star systems), Be X-ray binaries and stellar coronal sources (see Grindlay et al 2000, BAAS, 196, 37.07 for general description). ChaMPlane has been chosen by NOAO as a Long Term Survey Program. Deep (R ~24) NOAO 4m Mosaic images are obtained to identify CVs and qLMXBs by their ubiquitous H\alpha excess as ``blue'' objects in the R vs.\ (H\alpha\!-\!{\rm R}) diagram. We have successfully conducted the ChaMPlane survey for the first year and obtained: deep images in the V, R, I and H\alpha bands for 13 Chandra fields (9 from CTIO and 4 from KPNO); corresponding serendipitous X-ray source fluxes and colors from 4 of these fields; and optical WIYN/Hydra multi-fiber spectra for a substantial sample of the X-ray sources and detected H\alpha-excess sources in two Chandra fields (J0422+32 and A0620-00). We will present our data analysis methods and complete photometry, spectroscopy and X-ray results for the field including GRO J0422+32. The first CV in the ChaMPlane survey has been detected with Mosaic imaging and confirmed with WIYN/Hydra spectroscopy. Several additional possible CV candidates are detected with imaging and spectra. However, these faint (R \geq 22) H\alpha-excess objects will probably require slit spectroscopy and/or a larger telescope for definitive classification.