Fossil group origins. III. The relation between optical and X-ray luminosities

Aims: This study is part of the Fossil group origins (FOGO) project which aims to carry out a systematic and multiwavelength study of a large sample of fossil systems. Here we focus on the relation between the optical luminosity (L_opt) and X-ray luminosity (L_X). Methods: Out of a total sample of 28 candidate fossil systems, we consider a sample of 12 systems whose fossil classification has been confirmed by a companion study. They are compared with the complementary sample of 16 systems whose fossil nature has not been confirmed and with a subsample of 102 galaxy systems from the RASS-SDSS galaxy cluster survey. Fossil and normal systems span the same redshift range 0