//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15944 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Swift detection of a probable burst DATE: 14/03/11 21:20:47 GMT FROM: David Palmer at LANL J. L. Racusin (NASA/GSFC), W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), N. Gehrels (NASA/GSFC), L. Izzo (URoma/ICRA), J. A. Kennea (PSU), H. A. Krimm (CRESST/GSFC/USRA), V. Mangano (PSU), D. M. Palmer (LANL), B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU) and T. N. Ukwatta (MSU) report on behalf of the Swift Team: At 21:05:16 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 140311A (trigger=591390). Swift could not immediately slew to the burst due to the Earth limb constraint. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 209.301, +0.612 which is RA(J2000) = 13h 57m 12s Dec(J2000) = +00d 36' 41" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). This is an image trigger and we cannot say much about the light curve. Due to an observing constraint, Swift will not slew until T0+50.6 minutes. There will be no XRT or UVOT data until this time. Burst Advocate for this burst is J. L. Racusin (judith.racusin AT nasa.gov). Please contact the BA by email if you require additional information regarding Swift followup of this burst. In extremely urgent cases, after trying the Burst Advocate, you can contact the Swift PI by phone (see Swift TOO web site for information: http://www.swift.psu.edu/too.html.) //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15946 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: MASTER early optical observations DATE: 14/03/11 21:53:51 GMT FROM: Vladimir Lipunov at Moscow State U/Krylov Obs E. Gorbovskoy, V. Lipunov, M. Pruzhinskaya, D.Denisenko, V.Kornilov, N.Tyurina, P.Balanutsa, A.Kuznetsov, V.V.Chazov, D.Kuvshinov Lomonosov Moscow State University, Sternberg Astronomical Institute K.Ivanov, S.Yazev, N.M.Budnev, O.Gres, O.Chuvalaev, V.A.Poleshchuk Irkutsk State University V.Yurkov, Yu.Sergienko, D.Varda, E.Sinyakov Blagoveschensk Educational State University, Blagoveschensk A. Tlatov, A.V. Parhomenko, D. Dormidontov, V.Sennik Kislovodsk Solar Station of the Pulkovo Observatory V.Krushinski, I.Zalozhnih, A. Popov Ural Federal University, Kourovka Hugo Levato and Carlos Saffe Instituto de Ciencias Astronomicas, de la Tierra y del Espacio (ICATE) Claudio Mallamaci, Carlos Lopez and Federico Podest Observatorio Astronomico Felix Aguilar (OAFA) MASTER II robotic telescope (MASTER-Net: http://observ.pereplet.ru) located in Tunka was pointed to the GRB140311A 27 sec after trigger time and 127 sec after trigger time at 2014-03-11 21:07:23 UT in two polarizations. On our first (30s exposure) set we haven`t found optical transient within SWIFT error-box (Racusin et. al GCN 15944). The 5-sigma upper limit has been about 16.27mag MASTER II robotic telescope located in Blagoveschensk was pointed to the GRB140311A 10 sec after notice time and 89 sec after trigger time at 2014-03-11 21:06:45 UT in two polarizations. On our first (20s exposure) set we haven`t found optical transient within SWIFT error-box. The 5-sigma upper limit has been about 14mag. The observations made on the morning sky. The message may be cited. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15947 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Nanshan OT detection DATE: 14/03/11 21:56:00 GMT FROM: Dong Xu at DARK/NBI D. Xu (DARK/NBI), C.-H. Bai, X. Zhang, A. Esamdin, L. Ma (XAO) report: We observed the BAT error circle of GRB 140311A (Racusin et al., GCN 15944) using the 1m telescope located in Nanshan, Xinjiang, China. Observations started at 21:26:44 UT on 2014-03-11 and some R-band frames were obtained. A seemingly varying optical source is clearly detected in each image at coordinates R.A. (J2000) = 13:57:13.27 Dec. (J2000) = +00:38:31.07 Uncertainty radius: ~1 aecsec This object is not present in both SDSS and DSS. We thus suggest it may be the afterglow of the burst. Observations are ongoing. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15952 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Zadko observatory - Gingin optical observations DATE: 14/03/12 00:10:54 GMT FROM: Alain Klotz at IRAP-CNRS-OMP A. Klotz, D. Turpin (IRAP-CNRS-OMP), D. Macpherson (UWA/ICRAR), D. Coward (UWA), M. Boer, B. Gendre, K. Siellez, H. Dereli, O. Bardho (UNS-CNRS-OCA), A. Williams (PO-UWA), R. Martin (PO-UWA) report: We imaged the field of GRB 140311A detected by SWIFT (trigger 591390) with the Zadko robotic telescope (D=100cm) located at the observatory - Gingin, Australia. The observations started 119.5s after the GRB trigger (46.9s after the notice). The elevation of the field was at 45 degrees above horizon and weather conditions were good. The first image is trailed with a duration of 60.0s (see the description in Klotz et al., 2006, A&A 451, L39). We do not detect the OT discovered by Xu et al. GCNC 15947 with a limiting magnitude of: t0+119.5s to t0+179.5s : Rlim = 19.5 The second image is 30.0s exposure in tracking mode We detect the OT discovered by Xu et al. GCNC 15947: t0+208s to t0+238s : R = 19.6 +/- 0.5 Follow-up was performed until the dawn which arrived 18 minutes after the trigger. We co-added a series of exposures: t0+208s to t0+325s : R = 19.9 +/- 0.3 t0+338s to t0+515s : R = 19.2 +/- 0.3 t0+530s to t0+1111s : R = 18.5 +/- 0.3 Conclusions, the afterglow brightness increases slowly during the first 18 minutes after the trigger. Magnitudes were estimated with the nearby star NOMAD1 0906-0229793 (R=16.44) and are not corrected for galactic dust extinction. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15953 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: NOT observations of the optical afterglow DATE: 14/03/12 00:36:08 GMT FROM: Paolo D'Avanzo at INAF-OAB P. D'Avanzo, A. Melandri (INAF-OAB), D. Malesani (Dark/NBI), T. Pursimo (NOT), M. C. Baglio, I. Andreoni (INAF-OAB) report on behalf of the CIBO collaboration: We observed the field of GRB 140311A (Racusin et al. GCN 15944) with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) equipped with ALFOSC. The optical afterglow reported by Xu et al. (GCN 15947) and Klotz et al. (GCN 15952) is detected in the R band at 21.1 +/- 0.2 mag (calibrated against the USNOB1 catalogue) at t-t0=2.6 hours. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15954 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Optical follow-up observation with Kottamia 188cm telescope DATE: 14/03/12 00:41:43 GMT FROM: Michitoshi Yoshida at HASC,Hiroshima U M. Yoshida, R. Itoh, Y. Moritani (HASC, Hiroshima Univ.), G. B. Ali, A. Essam, A. Takey, and G. Hamed (NRIAG, Egypt) We made an optical follow-up observation of GRB 140311A (Racusin et al. GCN 15944) with the Newtonian CCD camera attached to the 188cm telescope at Kottamia astronomical observatory of NRIAG in Egypt. We started the observation at 22:08:26 UT on Marth 11 2014; 1.053 hours after the trigger. We combined six 300 sec exposure R-band frames and detected a faint point source at the position of the optical transient reported by Xu et al. (GCN 15947). Rough photometric result of the source is shown below. We used the nearby star NOMAD1 0906-022793 (Klotz et al. GCN 15952) for flux calibration. MID-UT T-EXP[sec] R[mag] err[mag] ---------------------------------------- 23:19:29 1800.0 21.9 +- 0.3 ---------------------------------------- //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15956 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Nanshan afterglow decay DATE: 14/03/12 00:51:27 GMT FROM: Dong Xu at DARK/NBI D. Xu (DARK/NBI), C.-H. Bai, X. Zhang, A. Esamdin, L. Ma (XAO) report: The previously reported afterglow candidate (Xu et al., GCN 15947) has been decaying throughout our R-band observations. Part of the photometry are listed below Tmid (hr) Mag(R) MagErr(R) 2.06778 21.06 0.10 1.53056 20.80 0.10 0.49306 19.96 0.10 All magnitude are calibrated with the following three SDSS stars using Lupton (2005) transformation: SDSS J135709.54+003731.9 m(r)=16.81, m(i)=16.30 SDSS J135716.45+003657.3 m(r)=16.41, m(i)=16.10 SDSS J135713.38+003942.0 m(r)=18.57, m(i)=18.47 Together with measurements in Klotz et al. (GCN 15952) and D'Avanzo et al. (GCN 15953), it shows that the optical afterglow peaks at ~0.23 hr post-burst and is decaying roughly as F(t) ~ t^-0.75 since ~0.5 hr post-burst. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15957 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Recalibration of photometry of OT detected with Kottamia 188cm telescope DATE: 14/03/12 01:06:41 GMT FROM: Michitoshi Yoshida at HASC,Hiroshima U M. Yoshida, R. Itoh, Y. Moritani (HASC, Hiroshima Univ.), G. B. Ali, A. Essam, A. Takey, and G. Hamed (NRIAG, Egypt) We performed recalibration of the photometry of the OT of GRB 140311A (Racusin et al. GCN 15944), and found that the R-band magnitude we previously reported (Yoshida et al. GCN 15954) is about 1 magnitude fainter than the newly calibrated value. The recalibration result is as follows: MID-UT T-EXP[sec] R[mag] err[mag] ---------------------------------------- 23:19:29 1800.0 20.9 +- 0.3 ---------------------------------------- //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15959 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Enhanced Swift-XRT position DATE: 14/03/12 09:56:51 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester P.A. Evans and M.R. Goad (U. Leicester) report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: Using 1977 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 4 UVOT images, we find an astrometrically corrected X-ray position (using the XRT-UVOT alignment and matching UVOT field sources to the USNO-B1 catalogue): RA, Dec = 209.30516, 0.64193 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000): 13 57 13.24 Dec (J2000): +00 38 31.0 with an uncertainty of 1.8 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence). This position may be improved as more data are received. The latest position can be viewed at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_positions. Position enhancement is described by Goad et al. (2007, A&A, 476, 1401) and Evans et al. (2009, MNRAS, 397, 1177). This position is 0.5 arc sec from the optical counterpart reported by Xu et al (GCN Circ. 15947), thus we believe this is the X-ray afterglow. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15961 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Gemini-South redshift DATE: 14/03/12 11:51:40 GMT FROM: Nial Tanvir at U.Leicester N. R. Tanvir (U. Leicester), A. J. Levan (U. Warwick), K. Wiersema (U. Leicester), A. Cucchiara (NASA/GSFC) report: We observed the afterglow of GRB 140311A (Racusin et al. GCN 15944; Xu et al. GCN 15947) with Gemini-South using the GMOS-S spectrograph, beginning March 12 08:24 UT, approximately 11.3 hours post-trigger. The spectrograph was configured to cover wavelength range from about 4000 AA to 6700 AA. The optical trace of the afterglow is clearly detected, with many absorption lines suggesting we are only seeing the region blueward of Ly-alpha in the rest frame. Based on several strong absorption features and a break, which would correspond to Ly-beta, Ly-gamma, Ly-delta and the Ly-limit at approximately z=4.95, we conclude this is likely to be the redshift of the GRB. Further analysis of the spectrum is ongoing. We thank the observatory staff, particularly Peter Pessev, for excellent support in obtaining these observations. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15962 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Swift-BAT refined analysis DATE: 14/03/12 12:37:56 GMT FROM: Hans Krimm at NASA-GSFC H. A. Krimm (GSFC/USRA),S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), J. R. Cummings (GSFC/UMBC), N. Gehrels (GSFC),A. Y. Lien (NASA/UMBC), C. B. Markwardt (GSFC), D. M. Palmer (LANL), J. L. Racusin (NASA/GSFC),T. Sakamoto (AGU), M. Stamatikos (OSU),J. Tueller (GSFC),T. N. Ukwatta (MSU) (i.e. the Swift-BAT team): Using the data set from T-239 to T+423 sec from the recent telemetry downlink, we report further analysis of BAT GRB 140311A (trigger #591390) (Racusin, et al., GCN Circ. 15944). The BAT ground-calculated position is RA, Dec = 209.293, 0.607 deg which is RA(J2000) = 13h 57m 10.4s Dec(J2000) = +00d 36' 23.9" with an uncertainty of 3.8 arcmin, (radius, sys+stat, 90% containment). The partial coding was 10%. The mask-weighted light curve shows two weak peaks, the first from roughly T-5 sec to T+5 sec and the second from approximately T+40 to T+60 sec. T90 (15-350 keV) is 71.4 +- 9.5 sec (estimated error including systematics). The time-averaged spectrum from -4.456 to 83.736 sec is best fit by a simple power-law model. The power law index of the time-averaged spectrum is 1.67 +- 0.23. The fluence in the 15-150 keV band is 2.3 +- 0.3 x 10^-6 erg/cm2. The 1-sec peak photon flux measured from T-2.40 sec in the 15-150 keV band is 1.3 +- 0.5 ph/cm2/sec. All the quoted errors are at the 90% confidence level. The results of the batgrbproduct analysis are available at http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/notices_s/591390/BA/ //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15964 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: NOT redshift confirmation DATE: 14/03/12 13:37:59 GMT FROM: Valerio D'Elia at ASDC P. D'Avanzo (INAF-OAB), V. D'Elia (INAF-OAR/ASI-ASDC), S. Piranomonte (INAF-OAR), A. Melandri (INAF-OAB), D. Malesani (DARK/NBI), T. Pursimo (NOT), M. C. Baglio, I. Andreoni (INAF-OAB) report on behalf of the CIBO collaboration: Following the detection of the optical afterglow reported in D'Avanzo et al. (GCN 15953), we carried out optical spectroscopy of GRB 140311A (Racusin et al. GCN 15944) with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) equipped with ALFOSC. The observation consisted of two 1800 s exposures covering the range between 3200 and 9100 A carried out at a mean t-t0=3.37 hours. Despite the low SNR and a seeing of ~2, we detect broad absorption features at lambda ~ 7300 and 6100 AA which we interpret as Ly-alpha and Ly-beta at z ~ 5. This is consistent with the redshift reported by Tanvir et al(GCN 15961). ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15966 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Gemini-North redshift DATE: 14/03/12 16:33:51 GMT FROM: Ryan Chornock at Harvard R. Chornock (Harvard), D. B. Fox (Penn State), N. R. Tanvir (U. Leicester), and E. Berger (Harvard) report: We obtained 2x900s of spectroscopy of the optical afterglow (Xu et al., GCN 15947) of GRB 140311A (Racusin et al., GCN 15944) using GMOS on the 8-m Gemini-N telescope beginning at 12:56 UT on March 12. We used the R831 grating to cover the wavelength range of 6950-9075 Angs at a resolution of approximately 2.8 Angs. Our data exhibit a broad damped Lyman-alpha feature centered near 7250 Angs (redshift~4.95), in agreement with previous reports from Gemini-South (Tanvir et al., GCN 15961) and NOT (D'Avanzo et al., GCN 15964). In addition, we detect many metal lines, including C II, C II*, O I, O I*, Si II, Si II*, and Si IV at a common redshift of 4.954, which we adopt as the redshift of the GRB. We thank the Gemini staff, particularly Jesse Ball, for their excellent assistance in obtaining these data. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15968 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Swift-XRT refined Analysis DATE: 14/03/12 17:02:28 GMT FROM: Luca Izzo at ICRA L. Izzo (URoma/ICRA), V. D'Elia (ASDC) and J. L. Racusin (NASA/GSFC) report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: We have analysed 6.2 ks of XRT data for GRB 140311A (Racusin et al. GCN Circ. 15944), from 9.5 ks to 57.1 ks after the BAT trigger. The data are entirely in Photon Counting (PC) mode. Using 2850 s of PC mode data and 7 UVOT images, we find an enhanced XRT position (using the XRT-UVOT alignment and matching UVOT field sources to the USNO-B1 catalogue): RA, Dec = 209.30521, +0.64191 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000): 13h 57m 13.25s Dec(J2000): +00d 38' 30.9" with an uncertainty of 1.5 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence). The light curve can be modelled with a power-law decay with a decay index of alpha=1.13 (+0.16, -0.14). A spectrum formed from the PC mode data can be fitted with an absorbed power-law with a photon spectral index of 1.61 (+0.17, -0.12). The best-fitting absorption column is consistent with the Galactic value of 2.8 x 10^20 cm^-2 (Kalberla et al. 2005). The counts to observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux conversion factor deduced from this spectrum is 3.9 x 10^-11 (4.1 x 10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus: Galactic foreground: 2.8 x 10^20 cm^-2 Intrinsic column: 0 (+2.2, -0) x 10^22 cm^-2 at z=4.95 Photon index: 1.61 (+0.17, -0.12) If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of 1.13, the count rate at T+24 hours will be 0.013 count s^-1, corresponding to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 5.1 x 10^-13 (5.3 x 10^-13) erg cm^-2 s^-1. The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis are available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/00591390 This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15969 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Bassano Bresciano Observatory optical upper limit DATE: 14/03/12 17:12:37 GMT FROM: Ulisse Quadri at Bassano Bresciano Obs U.Quadri, L.Strabla and R.Girelli report: We imaged the field of GRB 140311A detected by SWIFT(trigger 591390) with the robotic telescope of (IAU station 565) Bassano Bresciano Observatory, Italy (member of ISSP:Italian Supernovae Search Project) The observations started 1.89 hour after the GRB trigger, with our Newton telescope D=250 mm F/D=5. Weather conditions were good. We co-added 15 exposures of 120 sec each. We did not found any optical counterpart in the error box of the XRTcandidate. (J. L. Racusin (NASA/GSFC) et al, GCN 15944) Start T0+ End T0+ R.Lim 1.89 hour 2.37 hour 18.5 Magnitudes were estimated with the USNO-B1.0 cat. and are not corrected for galactic dust extinction. The message may be cited. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15973 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Swift/UVOT Upper Limits DATE: 14/03/12 19:27:01 GMT FROM: Stephen Holland at STScI S. T. Holland (STScI) and J. L. Racusin (NASA/GSFC) report on behalf of the Swift/UVOT team: The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 140311A 9540 s after the BAT trigger (Racusin et al. 2014, GCNC 15944). We do not detect any new source consistent with the Nansan afterglow position (Xu et al. 2014, GCNC 15947) in any of the UVOT exposures. Preliminary 3-sigma upper limits, using the UVOT photometric system (Breeveld et al. 2011, AIP Conf. Proc. 1358, 373), for the summed exposures are presented below. --------------------------------------------------- Filter TSTART TSTOP Exposure Mag --------------------------------------------------- v 11,358 11,533 171 >19.0 b 37,852 38,759 885 >21.3 uvw1 40,124 40,366 238 >19.8 uvw2 10,542 11,352 886 >21.2 white 9540 10,446 885 >22.0 --------------------------------------------------- The quoted upper limits have not been corrected for the expected extinction due to the Galactic reddening along the line of sight to this burst of E(B-V) = 0.03 mag (Schlafly et al. 2011, ApJS, 737, 103). The non-detection in the UVOT data is consistent with a redshift of z = 4.95 (Tanvir et al, 2014, GCNC 15961). //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15974 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Kottamia I-band observation DATE: 14/03/12 19:43:56 GMT FROM: Michitoshi Yoshida at HASC,Hiroshima U M. Yoshida, R. Itoh, Y. Moritani (HASC, Hiroshima Univ.), G. B. Ali, A. Essam, A. Takey, and G. Hamed (NRIAG, Egypt) We report the I-band photometry of GRB 140311A. The observation was performed with the Newtonian camera of the 188cm telescope at Kottamia observatory just before the R-band observation reported by Yoshida et al. (GCN 15954; 15957). We started the I-band observation at 21:57:30 UT on Marth 11 2014; 0.8706 hours after the trigger. Photometric result of the source is shown below. We used the nearby star NOMAD1 0906-0229809 for flux calibration. MID-UT T-EXP[sec] I[mag] err[mag] --------------------------------------------------- 2014-03-11 22:02:45 300.0 x 2 19.0 +- 0.1 --------------------------------------------------- //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15976 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Montarrenti Observatory optical upper limit DATE: 14/03/12 22:20:45 GMT FROM: Simone Leonini at Monarrenti Obs S. Leonini, P. Rosi, M. Conti, G. Guerrini and L.M. Tinjaca Ramirez (Montarrenti Observatory, Siena, Italy) report: We observed the field of GRB140311A (Swift trigger 591390, Racusin et al., GCN Circ. 15944) with the automatic 0.53m RC telescope + U47 detector at Montarrenti Observatory (Siena, Italy, IAU code C88). The observations were started at 2014-03-12 00:20:19 UT (approximately 3 hours post-burst) stacking 5 unfiltered CCD exposures of 60s each. We have not found optical transient within the error-box given by Swift. Mag. upper limit R = 20.02+/-0.16 Magnitudes were obtained using Astrometrica software using USNO-B1 catalogue and are not corrected for galactic extinction. The message may be cited. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15978 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: RATIR Optical and NIR Detection DATE: 14/03/13 00:11:31 GMT FROM: Owen Littlejohns at Az State U Owen Littlejohns (ASU), Nat Butler (ASU), Alan M. Watson (UNAM), Alexander Kutyrev (GSFC), William H. Lee (UNAM), Michael G. Richer (UNAM), Chris Klein (UCB), Ori Fox (UCB), J. Xavier Prochaska (UCSC), Josh Bloom (UCB), Antonino Cucchiara (ORAU/GSFC), Eleonora Troja (GSFC), Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz (UCSC), José A. de Diego (UNAM), Leonid Georgiev (UNAM), Jesús González (UNAM), Carlos Román-Zúñiga (UNAM), Neil Gehrels (GSFC), and Harvey Moseley (GSFC) report: We observed the field of GRB 140311A (Racusin, et al., GCN 15944) with the Reionization and Transients Infrared Camera (RATIR; www.ratir.org) on the 1.5m Harold Johnson Telescope at the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional on Sierra San Pedro Mártir from 2014/03 12.24 to 2014/03 12.36 UTC (8.75 to 11.51 hours after the BAT trigger), obtaining a total of 2.10 hours exposure in the r and i bands and 0.89 hours exposure in the Z and Y bands. For a source within the Swift-XRT error circle (Evans, et al., GCN 15959), in comparison with the SDSS DR9 and 2MASS, we obtain the following detections: r 22.33 +/- 0.13 i 21.56 +/- 0.08 Z 20.58 +/- 0.08 Y 20.09 +/- 0.08 These magnitudes are in the AB system and are not corrected for Galactic extinction in the direction of the GRB. The source has faded in comparison to observations from other facilities (D'Avanzo et, al., GCN 15953), requiring a power-law with a temporal decay index of alpha = -0.83. We thank the staff of the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional in San Pedro Mártir. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15980 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: further NOT observations DATE: 14/03/13 10:30:24 GMT FROM: Daniele Malesani at Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Inst D. Malesani (DARK/NBI), P. D'Avanzo (INAF/Brera), Y. F. Martinez Osorio (NOT and Univ. Uppsala), report on behalf of the CIBO collaboration: We observed the optical afterglow of GRB 140311A (Racusin et al., GCN 15944; Xu et al., GCN 15947) with the Nordic Optical Telescope equipped with ALFOSC. A total exposure of 24 min was secured in the SDSS i band. At a mean epoch of March 13.043 UT (1.16 days after the GRB), the optical counterpart is well detected with an AB magnitude i = 22.45 +- 0.08, calibrated to several nearby SDSS stars. The position of the afterglow is (J2000): RA = 13:57:13.29 Dec = +00:38:31.7 referenced to the USNO-B1 catalog (0.3" error). Compared to the i-band value reported by Littlejohns et al. (GCN 15978), our measurement implies a decay index alpha = 0.81 +- 0.10 (Fnu propto nu^-alpha), consistent with the value reported by these authors. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15985 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: VLA Detection DATE: 14/03/16 03:24:52 GMT FROM: Tanmoy Laskar at Harvard U T. Laskar, A. Zauderer, and E. Berger (Harvard) report: "We observed the position of GRB 140311A (Racusin et al; GCN 15944) with the VLA beginning on 2014 March 14.35 UT (2.48 days after the burst). At a mean frequency of 21.8 GHz, we detect a radio source with a preliminary flux density of ~ 0.25 mJy at RA = 13:57:13.2763 +/- 0.0002 Dec = 00:38:31.423 +/- 0.003 consistent with the enhanced Swft/XRT position (Evans et al.; GCN 15959) and the optical position (Xu et al.; GCN 15947). Follow-up observations are planned." //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15994 SUBJECT: GRB 140311A: Mondy optical limits DATE: 14/03/18 20:40:18 GMT FROM: Alexei Pozanenko at IKI, Moscow A. Volnova (IKI), E. Klunko (ISTP), I. Korobtsev (ISTP), M. Eselevich (ISTP), A. Pozanenko (IKI) report on behalf of larger GRB follow-up collaboration: We observed the field of GRB 140311A (Racusin et al., GCN 15944) with AZT-33IK telescope of Mondy observatory on Mar. 12 and Mar. 13. Within enhanced Swift-XRT error circle (Evans et al., GCN 15959) we do not detect the optical afterglow (Xu et al., GCN 15947; Klotz et al., GCN 15952). Details of the photometry is following: date UT start t-T0 Exp. Filter UpperLimit (3sigma) (mid, days) (s) 2014-03-12 17:35:08 0.87145 25x120 R 21.4 2014-03-13 20:29:49 2.01082 51x120 R 21.6 The photometry is based on reference star SDSS-DR9, (R mag, transformation by Lupton 2005): N SDSS_id R(Lupton) err J135713.39+003942.0 18.447 0.015