Archival XMM-Newton EPIC observations reveal the population of X-ray sources of the bright Local Group spiral galaxy M 31 , a low-star-formation-rate galaxy like the Milky Way , down to a 0.2-4.5 keV luminosity of 4.4 \times 10 ^ { 34 } erg s ^ { -1 } .
With the help of X-ray hardness ratios and optical and radio information different source classes can be distinguished .
The survey detected 856 sources in an area of 1.24 square degrees .
Sources within M 31 are 44 supernova remnants ( SNR ) and candidates , 18 super-soft sources ( SSS ) , 16 X-ray binaries ( XRBs ) and candidates , as well as 37 globular cluster sources ( GlC ) and candidates , i.e .
most likely low mass XRBs within the GlC .
567 hard sources may either be XRBs or Crab-like SNRs in M 31 or background AGN .
22 sources are new SNR candidates in M 31 based on X-ray selection criteria .
Time variability information can be used to improve the source classification .
Two GlC sources show type I X-ray bursts as known from Galactic neutron star low mass XRBs .
Many of the M 31 SSS detected with XMM-Newton , Chandra and ROSAT , could be identified with optical novae .
Soft X-ray light curves can be determined in M 31 center observations for several novae at a time opening a new area of nova research .