We describe in detail the nature of XMM-Newton EPIC background and its
various complex components, summarising the new findings of the XMM-Newton EPIC
background working group, and provide XMM-Newton background blank sky event
files for use in the data analysis of diffuse and extended sources. Blank sky
event file data sets are produced from the stacking of data, taken from 189
observations resulting from the Second XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source
Catalogue (2XMMp) reprocessing. The data underwent several filtering steps,
using a revised and improved method over previous work, which we describe in
detail. We investigate several properties of the final blank sky data sets. The
user is directed to the location of the final data sets. There is a final data
set for each EPIC instrument-filter-mode combination.Comment: Paper accepted by A&A 22 December 2006. 14 pages, 8 figures. Paper
can also be found at http://www.star.le.ac.uk/~jac48/publications
