Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
An X-ray off state of CAL 83 has been observed in April 1996 with the ROSAT HRI three weeks after a normal on state. An upper limit for a linear decline time of the observed flux of ~20 days (and of an efolding decline time of ~6 days) is deduced. This decline may be due to the response of the white dwarf envelope to a temporary increased mass accretion rate giving rise to an envelope expansion. CAL 83 may resemble the recurrent supersoft LMC transient RX J0513.9–6951 with episodes of disappearance in X-rays.