We present here a detailed spectral study of the X-ray emission of the persistent source and the low-fluence bursts of SGR J0501 + 4516 observed during a deep XMM-Newton observation near the peak of its 2008 outburst .
For the persistent emission we employ a physically motivated continuum emission model and spectroscopically determine important source properties ; such as , the surface magnetic field strength and the magnetospheric scattering optical depth .
We find that the magnetar surface temperature near the peak of its activity is 0.38 keV , corresponding to an emission area of 131 km ^ { 2 } at a distance of 2 kpc .
The surface magnetic field strength determined spectroscopically , B = 2.2 \times 10 ^ { 14 } G , is consistent with the dipole field strength inferred from the source spin and spin down rate .
We fit the stacked spectra of 129 very faint bursts with a modified blackbody model and find a temperature of 1.16 keV , corresponding to an emission area of 93 km ^ { 2 } .
We also find an evidence for cooling during the burst decay phase .