XMM-Newton observations of the Soft Gamma Ray Repeater SGR 1627-41 in a low luminosity state

The sky region containing the soft gamma-ray repeater SGR 1627-41 has been observed three times with XMM-Newton in February and September 2004. SGR 1627-41 has been detected with an absorbed flux of similar to 9 x 10(-14) erg cm(-2) s(-1) ( 2-10 keV). For a distance of 11 kpc, this corresponds to a luminosity of similar to 3 x 10(33) erg s-1, the smallest ever observed for a Soft Gamma Repeater and possibly related to the long period of inactivity of this source. The observed flux is smaller than that seen with Chandra in 2001-2003, suggesting that the source was still fading and had not yet reached a steady quiescent level. The spectrum is equally well fit by a steep power law ( photon index similar to 3.2) or by a blackbody with temperature kT similar to 0.8 keV. We also report on the INTEGRAL transient IGR J16358-4726 that lies at similar to 10' from SGR 1627-41. It was detected only in September 2004 with a luminosity of similar to 4 x 10(33) erg s(-1) ( for d = 7 kpc), while in February 2004 it was at least a factor 10 fainter.

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