XMM-Newton observations of the supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946 and its central source

We present new results coming from the observations of the supernova remnant (SNR) RX J1713.7–3946 (also G347.3–0.5) performed in five distinct pointings with the EPIC instrument on board the satellite XMM-Newton. RX J1713.7–3946 is a shell-type SNR dominated by synchrotron radiation in the X-rays. Its emission (emission measure and photon index) as well as the absorption along the line-of-sight has been characterized over the entire SNR. The X-ray mapping of the absorbing column density has revealed strong well constrained variations (0.4 10^22 cm^-2 < NH < 1.1 10^22 cm^-2) and, particularly, a strong absorption in the southwest. Moreover, there are several clues indicating that the shock front of RX J1713.7–3946 is impacting the clouds responsible for the absorption as revealed for instance by the positive correlation between X-ray absorption and X-ray brightness along the western rims. The CO and HI observations show that the inferred cumulative absorbing column densities are in excellent agreement with the X-ray findings in different places of the remnant on condition that the SNR lies at a distance of 1.3 +/- 0.4 kpc, probably in the Sagittarius galactic arm, instead of the commonly accepted value of 6 kpc. An excess in the CO emission is found in the southwest suggesting that the absorption is due to molecular clouds. A search for OH masers in the southwestern region has been unsuccessful, possibly due to the low density of the clouds. The X-ray mapping of the photon index has also revealed strong variations (1.8 < Gamma < 2.6). [See the article for the entire abstract]