The X-ray emission of magnetic cataclysmic variables in the XMM-Newton era

We review the X-ray spectral properties of magnetic cataclysmic binaries derived from observations obtained during the last decade with the large X-ray observatories XMM-Newton, Chandra and Suzaku. We focus on the signatures of the different accretion modes which are predicted according to the values of the main physical parameters (magnetic field, local accretion rate and white dwarf mass). The observed large diversity of spectral behaviors indicates a wide range of parameter values in both intermediate polars and polars, in line with a possible evolutionary link between both classes.