1 Introduction

The Magellanic Clouds (MCs) as the nearest galaxies to the Milky Way allow us to resolve their stellar content in various wavelength bands. X-ray observations combined with optical and radio data can be used to investigate the physical properties of individual X-ray sources as well as the statistical properties of different source classes in a galaxy as a whole. The quantitative and positional distribution of X-ray sources in the MCs will help us to understand the unresolved X-ray emission from more distant galaxies.

After the first observation of X-ray emission from the MCs in 1968 (Mark et al. 1969) four permanent (LMC X-1, X-2, X-3, and X-4, Leong et al. 1971; Giacconi et al. 1972) and few transient X-ray sources were found in the LMC in several satellite missions (UHURU, SAS-3, Copernicus, Ariel-V, HEAO-1). An extensive pointed survey of the LMC was performed by the Einstein Observatory between 1979 and 1981. The two detectors on board this satellite, the Imaging Proportional Counter and the High Resolution Imager, were sensitive enough to detect X-ray binaries, SSSs, and SNRs at the distance of the LMC (55 kpc). Long et al. (1981) published a list of 97 discrete X-ray sources in the direction of the LMC and the same data was re-analyzed by Wang et al. (1991) finally giving a list of 105 sources. 54 discrete X-ray sources were identified with objects in the LMC, most of the remaining sources were associated with foreground stars and background AGN. In EXOSAT observations few additional X-ray sources were found (Jones et al. 1985; Pakull et al. 1985; Pietsch et al. 1989).

The next thorough survey of the LMC was made by ROSAT in the energy range of 0.1 - 2.4 keV (Trümper 1982). From 1990 to 1998 ROSAT performed more than 700 pointed observations in a 10 by 10 degree field centered on the LMC. Haberl & Pietsch (1999b, hereafter HP99b) analyzed 212 PSPC observations and created a catalogue of 758 X-ray sources.

In this work results of the analysis of the ROSAT HRI data of the LMC are presented. A description of the HRI detector can be found in David et al. (1996). A source catalogue was obtained in a similar way as in HP99b and many sources were identified by cross-correlating the source list with other existing catalogues. With the help of known properties of different source classes we looked for new candidates for SNRs, stars, and hard X-ray sources which mainly consist of X-ray binaries and absorbed background AGN.