The well-known black hole X-ray binary GRS 1915+105 is a unique source in the
sense that it cannot be classified within the standard picture of black hole
binary states. In this work we study archival XMM-Newton observations taken
between 2003 and 2004 of the \c{hi} variability class of GRS 1915+105, which
corresponds to the hard state in the standard black hole X-ray binary state
classification. The crucial point of our study is that by using XMM-Newton data
we can access the variability below 3 keV, an energy range that is not covered
with RXTE. We focus on the study of the power spectral shape in the soft and
hard X-ray band, in light of our work done with Swift on MAXI J1659-152. In the
hard band (above 2.5 keV) power density spectra consist of band-limited noise
and quasi-periodic oscillations, corresponding to the power spectral shape seen
in the hard or intermediate state, while in the soft band the averaged power
density spectrum is consistent with a power-law noise, corresponding to the
power spectral shape usually seen in the soft state. The coexisting of two
different power spectral shapes in the soft and hard band, where the soft band
power spectrum is dominated by a power-law noise, is consistent with MAXI
J1659-152, and confirms the energy dependence of power spectral states. Our
additional spectral analysis shows that the disc component does contribute to
the soft band flux. These findings support that the observed black hole power
spectral state depends on which spectral component we are looking at, which
implies that power spectral analysis is probably a more sensitive method than
spectral modeling to trace the emergence of the disc component in the hard or
intermediate state.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, submitted to MNRA
