//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15896 SUBJECT: GRB 140301A: Swift detection of a burst DATE: 14/03/01 15:39:16 GMT FROM: Scott Barthelmy at NASA/GSFC K. L. Page (U Leicester), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), D. N. Burrows (PSU), N. Gehrels (NASA/GSFC) and M. H. Siegel (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift Team: At 15:24:49 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 140301A (trigger=589590). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 69.548, -34.283 which is RA(J2000) = 04h 38m 11s Dec(J2000) = -34d 16' 58" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve shows a single peak with a duration of about 10 sec. The peak count rate was ~1300 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~1 sec after the trigger. The XRT began observing the field at 15:26:15.5 UT, 86.1 seconds after the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find a bright, fading, uncatalogued X-ray source with an enhanced position: RA, Dec 69.5584, -34.2565 which is equivalent to: RA(J2000) = 04h 38m 14.02s Dec(J2000) = -34d 15' 23.6" with an uncertainty of 3.4 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This location is 100 arcseconds from the BAT onboard position, within the BAT error circle. This position may be improved as more data are received; the latest position is available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/sper. A power-law fit to a spectrum formed from promptly downlinked event data gives a column density consistent with the Galactic value of 2.23 x 10^20 cm^-2 (Kalberla et al. 2005). The initial flux in the 2.5 s image was 3.38e-09 erg cm^-2 s^-1 (0.2-10 keV). UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter starting 95 seconds after the BAT trigger. No credible afterglow candidate has been found in the initial data products. The 2.7'x2.7' sub-image covers 100% of the XRT error circle. The typical 3-sigma upper limit has been about 19.6 mag. The 8'x8' region for the list of sources generated on-board covers 100% of the XRT error circle. The list of sources is typically complete to about 18 mag. No correction has been made for the expected extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of 0.03. Burst Advocate for this burst is K. L. Page (kpa AT star.le.ac.uk). 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: 15897 SUBJECT: GRB 140301A: Skynet R-COP Observations DATE: 14/03/01 16:30:27 GMT FROM: Adam S. Trotter at UNC-Chapel Hill/PROMPT/Skynet A. Trotter, J. Haislip, A. LaCluyze, D. Reichart, A. Verveer, T. Spuck, A. Foster, N. Frank, K. Ivarsen, J. Moore, M. Nysewander, R. Beauchemin, T. Berger, M. Carroll, H. T. Cromartie, R. Egger, M. Hinckle, A. Ireland, M. Maples, L. Scott, and J. A. Crain report: Skynet observed the Swift-BAT localization of GRB 140301A (Page et al., GCN 15896, Swift trigger 589590) with the 14-inch R-COP telescope at Perth Observatory, Australia. Observations began at 93s and continued until 33m post-trigger, with rotating exposures in the BVRI bands increasing from 10s to 80s. We detect no optical source in stacked images in any band at the position of the source detected by the Swift XRT. Preliminary upper limits are: Band tmid mag V 17m >18.5 R 22m >19.0 I 18m >18.0 Photometry is calibrated to seven APASS-DR7 stars in the field, and has not been corrected for the Galactic foreground extinction corresponding to E(B-V)=0.03 (Schlegel et al. 1998). No further Skynet observations are scheduled. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15898 SUBJECT: GRB 140301A: Enhanced Swift-XRT position DATE: 14/03/01 19:26:44 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester M.R. Goad, J.P. Osborne, A.P. Beardmore and P.A. Evans (U. Leicester) report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team. Using 691 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 2 UVOT images for GRB 140301A, 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 = 69.55743, -34.25679 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000): 04h 38m 13.78s Dec (J2000): -34d 15' 24.4" with an uncertainty of 1.9 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 circular was automatically generated, and is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15899 SUBJECT: GRB 140301A: NOT afterglow candidate DATE: 14/03/01 21:03:43 GMT FROM: Thomas Kruehler at Dark Cosmology Center T. Kruehler (ESO), D. Malesani, D. Xu, J. P. U. Fynbo (DARK/NBI), T. J. Rivera-Thorsen (Stockholm), J. Puschnig (Stockholm), P. Jakobsson (Univ. Iceland), report on behalf of a larger collaboration: We observed the field of GRB 140301A (Page et al., GCN 15896) with the Nordic Optical Telescope equipped with the MOSCA imager. Observations were taken at high airmass, in twilight, using the R and z filters. Consistent with the position of the XRT afterglow (Goad et al., GCN 15898), our images show the presence of a faint object in the R band, with coordinates: RA = 04:38:13.78 Dec = -34:15:23.5 and uncertainties of approximately 0.5" in each coordinate. At a midtime of 4.97 hr after the trigger, we measure a brightness of R = 23.1 +/- 0.3 mag. This magnitude is calibrated against stars from the USNO-B1 catalog. No statement about fading can be made at this point. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15900 SUBJECT: GRB 140301A: VLT/X-shooter redshift DATE: 14/03/02 06:16:27 GMT FROM: Thomas Kruehler at Dark Cosmology Center T. Kruehler (ESO), N. R. Tanvir (Univ. Leicester) D. Malesani, D. Xu, J. P. U. Fynbo (DARK/NBI) report on behalf of a larger collaboration: We observed the optical source (Kruehler et al., GCN 15899) inside the XRT error circle (Goad et al., GCN 15898) of GRB 140301A (Page et al., GCN 15896) with the VLT equipped with the X-shooter spectrograph. Our spectrum covers the wavelength range between 3000 and 20000 AA and consists of 12 nodded spectra with an integration time of 600 s each. A preliminary analysis of the spectrum reveals a faint continuum in which we tentatively identify absorption lines of the MgII doublet at z = 1.416. At the same redshift and with a spatial offset of up to ~1" we detect strong emission lines of [OII], Hbeta, [OIII], Halpha and [NII], characteristic for emission from the GRB host. We acknowledge excellent support from the observing staff in Paranal, in particular Julien Girard and Valentin Ivanov. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15904 SUBJECT: GRB 140301A: GROND Detection of the Optical/NIR Afterglow DATE: 14/03/02 11:43:10 GMT FROM: Jonny Elliott at MPE/GROND J. Elliott (MPE Garching), S. Schmidl (TLS Tautenburg), J. Greiner (also MPE Garching) report on behalf of the GROND team: We observed the field of GRB 140301A (Swift trigger 589590; Page et al., GCN #15896) simultaneously in g'r'i'z'JHK with GROND (Greiner et al. 2008, PASP 120, 405) mounted at the 2.2 m MPG/ESO telescope at La Silla Observatory (Chile). Observations started at 00:07 UT on 2nd March 2014, 9.72 hrs after the GRB trigger. They were performed at an average seeing of 2.2" and at an average airmass of 1.3. We find a single point source within the 1.9" refined Swift-XRT error circle reported by Goad et al. (GCN #15898) and confirm the source found by Kruehler et al. (GCN #15899, #15900). Based on an exposure of 2.5 hours we estimate preliminary magnitudes (AB system) of g' = 24.2 +/- 0.2, r' = 23.8 +/- 0.2, i' = 23.2 +/- 0.2, z' = 22.4 +/- 0.2, J > 21.8, H > 21.3, and K > 20.6. Given magnitudes are calibrated against GROND zeropoints as well as 2MASS field stars and are not corrected for the expected Galactic foreground extinction corresponding to a reddening of E(B-V) = 0.03 mag in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998). //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15905 SUBJECT: GRB 140301A: Swift-XRT refined Analysis DATE: 14/03/02 12:03:17 GMT FROM: Kim Page at U.of Leicester K. L. Page (U Leicester) reports on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: We have analysed 5.9 ks of XRT data for GRB 140301A (Page et al. GCN Circ. 15896), from 92 s to 51.3 ks after the BAT trigger. The data comprise 382 s in Windowed Timing (WT) mode with the remainder in Photon Counting (PC) mode. The enhanced XRT position for this burst was given by Goad et al. (GCN Circ. 15898). The late-time light curve (from T0+6.4 ks) can be modelled with a power-law decay with a decay index of alpha=0.95 (+0.32, -0.29). A spectrum formed from the WT mode data can be fitted with an absorbed power-law with a photon spectral index of 2.01 (+/-0.09). The best-fitting absorption column is 3.3 (+/-1.0) x 10^21 cm^-2, at a redshift of 1.416, in addition to the Galactic value of 2.2 x 10^20 cm^-2 (Kalberla et al. 2005). The PC mode spectrum has a photon index of 2.42 (+0.32, -0.29) and a best-fitting absorption column of 7.2 (+4.1, -3.3) x 10^21 cm^-2. The counts to observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux conversion factor deduced from this spectrum is 3.0 x 10^-11 (4.8 x 10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus: Galactic foreground: 2.2 x 10^20 cm^-2 Intrinsic column: 7.2 (+4.1, -3.3) x 10^21 cm^-2 at z=1.416 Photon index: 2.42 (+0.32, -0.29) If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of 0.95, the count rate at T+24 hours will be 5.8 x 10^-3 count s^-1, corresponding to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 1.7 x 10^-13 (2.8 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/00589590. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15906 SUBJECT: GRB 140301A: Swift-BAT refined analysis DATE: 14/03/02 14:35:47 GMT FROM: Scott Barthelmy at NASA/GSFC T. N. Ukwatta (MSU), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), J. R. Cummings (GSFC/UMBC), N. Gehrels (GSFC), H. A. Krimm (GSFC/USRA), A. Y. Lien (NASA/UMBC), C. B. Markwardt (GSFC), K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL), T. Sakamoto (AGU), M. Stamatikos (OSU), J. Tueller (GSFC), (i.e. the Swift-BAT team): Using the data set from T-239 to T+886 sec from recent telemetry downlinks, we report further analysis of BAT GRB 140301A (trigger #589590) (Page, et al., GCN Circ. 15896). The BAT ground-calculated position is RA, Dec = 69.521, -34.249 deg, which is RA(J2000) = 04h 38m 05.0s Dec(J2000) = -34d 14' 56.8" with an uncertainty of 1.9 arcmin, (radius, sys+stat, 90% containment). The partial coding was 66%. The mask-weighted light curve shows a roughly symmetric peak starting at ~T-15 sec, peaking at ~T+1 sec, and ending at ~T+20 sec. T90 (15-350 keV) is 31.0 +- 5.7 sec (estimated error including systematics). The time-averaged spectrum from T-13.18 to T+22.82 sec is best fit by a simple power-law model. The power law index of the time-averaged spectrum is 1.96 +- 0.28. The fluence in the 15-150 keV band is 4.4 +- 0.8 x 10^-7 erg/cm2. The 1-sec peak photon flux measured from T+0.82 sec in the 15-150 keV band is 0.7 +- 0.2 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/589590/BA/ //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 15913 SUBJECT: GRB 140301A: Swift/UVOT Upper Limits DATE: 14/03/04 04:27:15 GMT FROM: Mike Siegel at PSU/Swift MOC B. Porterfield (PSU) and R. Starling (U Leicester) report on behalf of the Swift/UVOT team: The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 140301A 95 s after the BAT trigger (Page et al., GCN Circ. 15896). No optical afterglow consistent with the XRT position (Goad et al. GCN Circ. 15898) is detected in the initial UVOT exposures. No counterpart consistent with the optical counterpart observed by NOT (Kruehler et al. GCN Circ. 15899) is detected. Preliminary 3-sigma upper limits using the UVOT photometric system (Breeveld et al. 2011, AIP Conf. Proc. 1358, 373) for the first finding chart (FC) exposure and subsequent exposures are: Filter T_start(s) T_stop(s) Exp(s) Mag white_FC 108 258 292 >21.8 u_FC 320 744 265 >20.7 white 108 920 231 >21.1 v 650 843 38 >18.7 v 6583 22273 392 >20.2 b 749 769 19 >19.2 b 27968 28212 240 >21.0 u 320 744 265 >20.7 w1 700 719 19 >17.9 w1 11294 45552 1408 >21.1 w2 799 818 19 >17.8 w2 6378 58531 1122 >21.4 The magnitudes in the table are not corrected for the Galactic extinction due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 0.03 in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998). //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16064 SUBJECT: GRB 140301A: Zadko observatory - Gingin optical observations DATE: 14/03/31 22:30:21 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 140301A detected by SWIFT (trigger 589590) with the Zadko robotic telescope (D=100cm) located at the observatory - Gingin, Australia. The observations started 70.7s after the GRB trigger (40.5s after the notice). The elevation of the field was at 26 degrees above horizon and weather conditions were good. Images were retrieved 30 days after their acquisitions due to a storage software problem. 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 any OT with a limiting magnitude of: t0+70.7s to t0+130.7s : Rlim = 18.4 The second image is 30.0s exposure in tracking mode: t0+159s to t0+189s : Rlim = 19.7 We co-added series of unfiltered exposures. The OT discovered by Kruehler et al. (GCNC 15899) is marginally detected 841 s (+/-255 s) after the trigger. More precisely the photometry is: =start= =end= 159 s 275 s CRlim = 21.8 289 s 465 s CRlim = 21.8 586 s 1096 s CR = 21.7 +/- 0.4 1217 s 1727 s CRlim = 21.9 This suggests this faint afterglow had culminated in brightness R=21.7 at t0+841s. Then it had declined to R=23.1 at t0+4.97h (Kruehler et al. GCN 15899) and to r'=23.8 at t0+11h (Elliott et al. GCNC 15904). This is compatible with a temporal decay of ~0.5. A photometry follow-up was performed with the Zadko telescope : =start= =end= 20.4 h 20.8 h CRlim = 22.2 All magnitudes were estimated with the nearby NOMAD1 stars and are not corrected for galactic dust extinction.