XMMU J174716.1–281048: a “quasi-persistent” very faint X-ray transient?

The X-ray transient XMMU J174716.1–281048 was serendipitously discovered with XMM-Newton in 2003. It lies about 0.9 degrees off the Galactic Centre and its spectrum shows a high absorption (~ cm-2). Previous X-ray observations of the source field performed in 2000 and 2001 did not detect the source, indicative of a quiescent emission at least two orders of magnitude fainter. The low luminosity during the outburst (~34 erg s-1 at 8 kpc) indicates that the source is a member of the “very faint X-ray transients” class. On 2005 March 22nd the INTEGRAL satellite caught a possible type-I X-ray burst from the new INTEGRAL source IGR J17464–2811, classified as fast X-ray transient. This source was soon found to be positionally coincident, within the uncertainties, with XMMU J174716.1–281048. Here we report data analysis of the X-ray burst observed with the IBIS and JEM-X telescopes and confirm the type-I burst nature. We also re-analysed XMM-Newton and Chandra archival observations of the source field. We discuss the implications of these new findings, particularly related to the source distance as well as the source classification.