XMM - Newton study of the persistent X-ray source 1E 1743.1-2843 located in the Galactic Center direction

We report the results of an XMM-Newton observation of the persistent X-ray source 1E 1743.1-2843 , located in the Galactic Center (GC) direction. We determine the position of the source at (alpha)J2000 = 17h 46m 21.0s, (delta)2000=-28° 43ʹ 44" (with an uncertainty of 1.5 "), which is the most accurate to date, and will enable cross-identifications at other wavelengths. The source was bright during this observation ( L2-10 ke V~2.7 *10^36 d^2 10kpc erg s^-1 for a power-law continuum), with no significant variability. We propose that 1E 1743.1-2843 may be explained in terms of a black hole candidate in a low/hard state. There is an indication that the source exhibits different states from a comparison of our results with previous observations (e.g., ART-P, BeppoSAX). However, the present spectral analysis does not rule out the hypothesis of a neutron star low-mass X-ray binary as suggested previously. If 1E 1743.1-2843 is actually located in the GC region, we might expect to observe significant 6.4 keV fluorescent iron line emission from nearby molecular clouds (e.g., GCM+0.25+0.01).