Interstellar dust along the line of sight of GX 3+1

Context. Studying absorption and scattering of X-ray radiation by interstellar dust grains allows us to access the physical and chemical properties of cosmic grains even in the densest regions of the Galaxy. Aims. We aim at characterising the dust silicate population which presents clear absorption features in the energy band covered by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Through these absorption features, in principle, it is possible to infer the size distribution, composition, and structure of silicate in the interstellar medium. In particular, in this work we investigate magnesium and silicon K-edges. Methods. We built X-ray extinction models for 15 dust candidates using newly acquired synchrotron measurements. These models were adapted for astrophysical analysis and implemented in the SPE