The XMM-Newton/INTEGRAL monitoring campaign of IGR J16318-4848

Context: IGR J16318-4848 is the prototype and one of the more extreme examples of the new class of highly obscured Galactic X-ray sources discovered by INTEGRAL. A monitoring campaign on this source has been carried out using XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL, consisting of three simultaneous observations performed in February, March and August 2004.
Aims: The long-term variability of the Compton-thick absorption and emission line complexes will be used to probe the properties of the circumstellar matter.
Methods: A detailed timing and spectral analysis of the three observations is performed, along with the reanalysis of the XMM-Newton observation performed in February 2003. The results are compared with predictions from numerical radiative transfer simulations to derive the parameters of the circumstellar matter.
Results: Despite the large flux dynamic range observed (almost a factor 3 between observations performed a few months apart), the source remained bright (suggesting it is a persistent source) and Compton-thick (N_H >1.2×10²⁴ cm^-2). Large Equivalent Width (EW) emission lines from Fe Kα, Fe Kβ and Ni Kα were present in all spectra. The addition of a Fe Kα Compton Shoulder improves the fits, especially in the 2004 observations. Sporadic occurrences of rapid X-ray flux risings were observed in three of the four observations. The Fe Kα light curve followed the continuum almost instantaneously, suggesting that the emission lines are produced by illumination of small-scale optically-thick matter around the high-energy continuum source. Using the iron line EW and Compton Shoulder as diagnostic of the geometry of the matter, we suggest that the obscuring matter is in a flattened configuration seen almost edge-on.