First hard X-ray detection and broad-band X-ray study of the unidentified transient AX J1949.8+2534

We present the results from INTEGRAL and Swift/XRT observations of the hitherto poorly studied unidentified X-ray transient AX J1949.8+2534, and on archival multiwavelength observations of field objects. Bright hard X-ray outbursts have been discovered above 20 keV for the first time, the measured duty cycle and dynamic range are of the order of similar to 4 per cent and >= 630, respectively. The source was also detected during a low soft X-ray state (similar to 2 x 10(-12) erg cm(-2)s(-1)) thanks to a Swift/XRT followup, which allowed for the first time to perform a soft X-ray spectral analysis as well as significantly improve the source positional uncertainty from arcminute to arcsecond size. From archival near-infrared data, we pinpointed two bright objects as most likely counterparts whose photometric properties are compatible with an early-type spectral nature. This strongly supports a high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) scenario for AX J1949.8+2534, specifically a Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient (more likely) or alternatively a Be HMXB.