TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 8231 SUBJECT: GRB 080915: Swift-XRT afterglow detection and analysis DATE: 08/09/15 12:34:11 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester P.A. Evans (U. Leicester) and S.R. Oates (MSSL/UCL) report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team. We have analysed 1.7 ks of XRT data on GRB080915 (Oates et al, GCN Circ 8227), beginning 4.9 ks after the GRB trigger. Swift did not slew immediately to the burst due to an Earth limb constraint. We find a faint, fading source with a mean count rate ~0.01 counts per second at a position of RA, Dec=17.9473, -76.0204 degrees, which is equivalent to: RA (J2000): 01h 11m 47.35s Dec (J2000): -76d 01' 13.4" with an uncertainy of 6.5 arcsec (radius, 90% containment). This position is 54 arcsec from the BAT position, within the BAT error circle. The light curve shows a power-law decay with an index of 0.94 (+1.19/-0.58); the large uncertainty arises because the light curve contains only 2 points. A spectrum formed from the PC data can be modelled with an absorbed power-law. The absorption column is poorly constained, but consistent with the Galactic value of 6.7 x 10^20 cm^-2 (Kalberla et al. 2005), and the photon index is 2.3 (+2.6, -1.3). If the light curve continues to decay at alpha=0.94 we predict a count rate at T0+24 hrs of 0.0018 counts per second. This corresponds to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 6.36 x 10^-14 (1.22 x 10^-13) erg cm^-2 s^-1. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.