IGR J17254-3257, a new bursting neutron star

Aims. The study of the observational properties of uncommonly long bursts from low luminosity sources is important when investigating the transition from a hydrogen - rich bursting regime to a pure helium regime and from helium burning to carbon burning as predicted by current burst theories. On a few occasions X-ray bursts have been observed with extended decay times up to several tens of minutes, intermediate between usual type I X-ray bursts and so-called superbursts.

Methods. IGR J17254-3257 is a recently discovered X-ray burster of which only two bursts have been recorded: an ordinary short type I X-ray burst, and a 15 min long burst. The properties of the X-ray bursts observed from IGR J17254-3257 are investigated. The broad-band spectrum of the persistent emission in the 0.3-100 keV energy band is studied using contemporaneous INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton data.

Results. A refined position of IGR J17254-3257 is given and an upper limit to its distance is estimated to about 14.5 kpc. The persistent bolometric flux of 1.1 x 10(-10) erg cm(-2) s(-1) corresponds, at the canonical distance of 8 kpc, to L-pers approximate to 8.4 x 1035 erg s(-1) between 0.1-100 keV, which translates to a mean accretion rate of about 7 x 10(-11) M-circle dot yr(-1).

Conclusions. The low X-ray persistent luminosity of IGR J17254-3257 seems to indicate the source may be in a state of low accretion rate usually associated with a hard spectrum in the X-ray range. The nuclear burning regime may be intermediate between pure He and mixed H/He burning. The long burst is the result of the accumulation of a thick He layer, while the short one is a prematurate H-triggered He burning burst at a slightly lower accretion rate.