Discovery of a new soft gamma repeater, SGR 1627-41

We report the discovery of a new soft gamma repeater (SGR), SGR 1627-41, an d present BATSE observations of the burst emission and BeppoSAX Narrow-Fiel d Instrument observations of the probable persistent X-ray counterpart to t his SGR. All but one burst spectrum are well fit by an optically thin therm al bremsstrahlung model with kT values between 25 and 35 keV. The spectrum of the X-ray counterpart, SAX J1635.8-4736, is similar to that of other per sistent SGR X-ray counterparts. We find weak evidence for a periodic signal at 6.41 s in the light curve for this source. Like other SGRs, this source appears to be associated with a young supernova remnant, G337.0-0.1. Based upon the peak luminosities of bursts observed from this SGR, we find a low er limit on the dipole magnetic field of the neutron star of B-dipole great er than or similar to 5 x 10(14) G.