X-ray spectral study of hot gas in three clusters of galaxies

<BR /> Aims We studied the physical properties of three clusters of galaxies, selected from a BeppoSAX wide field camera (WFC) survey. These sources are identified as <ASTROBJ>1RXS J153934.7-833535</ASTROBJ>, <ASTROBJ>1RXS J160147.6-754507</ASTROBJ>, and <ASTROBJ>1RXS J081232.3-571423</ASTROBJ> in the ROSAT All-Sky Survey catalogue. We obtained XMM-Newton follow-up observations for these three clusters. <BR /> Methods We fitted single and multi-temperature models to spectra obtained with the EPIC-pn camera to determine the temperature, the chemical composition of the gas and their radial distribution. Since two observations were contaminated by a high soft-proton background, we developed a new method to estimate the effect of this background on the data. <BR /> Results We present the temperature and iron abundance of two of these three clusters for the first time. The iron abundance of <ASTROBJ>1RXS J153934.7-833535</ASTROBJ> decreases with radius. The fits to the XMM-Newton and Chandra data show that the radial temperature profile within 3' towards the centre either flattens or lowers. A Chandra image of the source suggests the presence of X-ray cavities. The gas properties in <ASTROBJ>1RXS J160147.6-754507</ASTROBJ> are consistent with a flat radial distribution of iron and temperature within 2' from the centre. <ASTROBJ>1RXS J081232.3-571423</ASTROBJ> is a relatively cool cluster with a temperature of about 3 keV. <BR /> Conclusions The radial temperature and iron profiles suggest that <ASTROBJ>1RXS J153934.7-833535</ASTROBJ> is a cool core cluster. The Chandra image shows substructure which points toward active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback in the core. The flat radial profiles of the temperature and iron abundance in <ASTROBJ>1RXS J160147.6-754507</ASTROBJ> are similar to the profiles of non-cool-core clusters.