INTEGRAL and Swift observations of the hard X-ray transient MAXI J1828-249

In this paper we report on the observations performed with INTEGRAL and Swift of the first outburst detected from the hard X-ray transient MAXI J1828-249. During the first about two days of the outburst, the source was observed by MAXI to undergo a very rapid transition from a hard to a softer spectral state. While the hard state was not efficiently monitored because the transition occurred so rapidly, the evolution of the source outburst in the softer state was covered quasi-simultaneously in a broad energy range (0.6-150 keV) by the instruments on-board INTEGRAL and Swift. During these observations, the spectra measured from the source displayed both a prominent thermal emission with temperature kT 0.7 keV and a power-law hard component with a photon index gamma 2.2 extending to 200 keV. The properties of the source in the X-ray domain are reminiscent of those displayed by black hole transients during the soft intermediate state, which supports the association of MAXI J1828-249 with this class of objects.