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A bright X-ray transient was seen during an XMM-Newton observation in thedirection of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) in October 2006. The EPIC dataallow us to accurately locate the source and to investigate its temporal andspectral behaviour. X-ray spectra covering 0.2-10 keV and pulse profiles indifferent energy bands were extracted from the EPIC data. The detection of 6.85s pulsations in the EPIC-PN data unambiguously identifies the transient withXTE J0103-728, discovered as 6.85 s pulsar by RXTE. The X-ray light curveduring the XMM-Newton observation shows flaring activity of the source withintensity changes by a factor of two within 10 minutes. Modelling ofpulse-phase averaged spectra with a simple absorbed power-law indicatessystematic residuals which can be accounted for by a second emission component.For models implying blackbody emission, thermal plasma emission or emissionfrom the accretion disk (disk-blackbody), the latter yields physically sensibleparameters. The photon index of the power-law of ~0.4 indicates a relativelyhard spectrum. The 0.2-10 keV luminosity was 2x10^{37} with a contribution of~3% from the disk-blackbody component. A likely origin for the excess emissionis reprocessing of hard X-rays from the neutron star by optically thickmaterial near the inner edge of an accretion disk. From a timing analysis wedetermine the pulse period to 6.85401(1) s indicating an average spin-down of~0.0017 s per year since the discovery of XTE J0103-728 in May 2003. The X-rayproperties and the identification with a Be star confirm XTE J0103-728 asBe/X-ray binary transient in the SMC.

XMM-Newton observations of the Small Magellanic Cloud: X-ray outburst of the 6.85 s pulsar XTE J0103-728