A deep X-ray observation of the supernova remnant G304.6+0.1 (Kes 17) using Suzaku

In this paper, we present the analysis of a deep (99.6 ks) observation of G304.6+0.1 with the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer on board the Suzaku satellite. The X-ray spectral data are well fitted with a plasma model consisting of a thermal component, in collisional ionization equilibrium, and a non-thermal component. The thermal emission is well fitted with the vmekal model with an electron temperature of kTe similar to 0.75 keV, a high absorbing column density of NH similar to 3.9 x 10(22) cm-2 and near/lower solar abundances, which indicate that the X-ray emitting plasma of G304.6+0.1 is dominated by a swept-up ambient medium. The non-thermal component is well fitted with a power-law model with a photon index of G similar to 1.4. We have found a relatively high electron density ne similar to 2.3f-1/2 cm-3, an age t similar to 1.4 x 104f1/2 yr and an X-ray emitting mass Mx similar to 380f1/2 M? at an adopted distance of d= 10 kpc. Using the morphological and spectral X-ray data, we confirm that the remnant is a new member of the mixed-morphology supernova remnants.