TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 27179 SUBJECT: GRB 200224A: Swift-XRT refined Analysis DATE: 20/02/24 16:21:20 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester J. D. Gropp (PSU), J.A. Kennea (PSU), K.L. Page (U. Leicester), A.P. Beardmore (U. Leicester), T. Sbarrato (INAF-OAB), P. D'Avanzo (INAF-OAB), M.G. Bernardini (INAF-OAB), A. Tohuvavohu (U. Toronto), and report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: We have analysed 12 ks of XRT data for the Swift-detected burst GRB 200224A, from 105 s to 34.0 ks after the Swift trigger. The data are entirely in Photon Counting (PC) mode. Using 4055 s of PC mode data and 4 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 = 248.76655, +41.61133 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000): 16h 35m 03.97s Dec(J2000): +41d 36' 40.8" with an uncertainty of 1.7 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence). This position is 4.0 arcmin from the Swift position. The light curve can be modelled with a power-law decay with a decay index of alpha=0.86 (+0.10, -0.09). A spectrum formed from the PC mode data can be fitted with an absorbed power-law with a photon spectral index of 2.09 (+0.39, -0.29). The best-fitting absorption column is 3.2 (+7.4, -2.3) x 10^20 cm^-2, consistent with the Galactic value of 8.9 x 10^19 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013). The counts to observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux conversion factor deduced from this spectrum is 3.0 x 10^-11 (3.3 x 10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus: Total column: 3.2 (+7.4, -2.3) x 10^20 cm^-2 Galactic foreground: 8.9 x 10^19 cm^-2 Excess significance: <1.6 sigma Photon index: 2.09 (+0.39, -0.29) If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of 0.86, the count rate at T+24 hours will be 9.9 x 10^-4 count s^-1, corresponding to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 3.0 x 10^-14 (3.3 x 10^-14) erg cm^-2 s^-1. The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis are available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/00958141. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. [GCN OPS NOTE(24feb20): This is the eighth Circular in the sequence of 8 circulars which were all labeled A because of the sequence assigner being offline. This circular was correctly labelled A.]