//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 23432 SUBJECT: GRB 181123B: Swift detection of a short burst DATE: 18/11/23 05:48:16 GMT FROM: David Palmer at LANL A. Y. Lien (GSFC/UMBC), P. D'Avanzo (INAF-OAB) and D. M. Palmer (LANL) report on behalf of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Team: At 05:33:03 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 181123B (trigger=873186). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 184.348, +14.589 which is RA(J2000) = 12h 17m 23s Dec(J2000) = +14d 35' 22" with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve showed a single peak structure with a duration of about 0.4 sec. The peak count rate was ~5000 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~0 sec after the trigger. The XRT began observing the field at 05:34:23.3 UT, 80.2 seconds after the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find an uncatalogued X-ray source located at RA, Dec 184.36663, 14.59889 which is equivalent to: RA(J2000) = 12h 17m 27.99s Dec(J2000) = +14d 35' 56.0" with an uncertainty of 3.8 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This location is 74 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. We cannot determine whether the source is fading at the present time. No spectrum from the promptly downlinked event data is yet available to determine the column density. UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter starting 83 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 A. Y. Lien (amy.y.lien 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: 23433 SUBJECT: GRB 181123B: Prompt enhanced Swift-XRT position DATE: 18/11/23 06:17:37 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester P.A. Evans (U. Leicester) reports on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: Using promptly downlinked XRT event data for GRB 181123B, we find an enhanced XRT position of the afterglow: RA, Dec: 184.3670, 14.5979 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000) = 12 17 28.08 Dec (J2000) = +14 35 52.5 with an uncertainty of 2.1 arcseconds (radius, 90% confidence). Analysis of the promptly available data is online at http://www.swift.ac.uk/sper/873186. Position enhancement is is described by Goad et al. (2007, A&A, 476, 1401) and Evans et al. (2009, MNRAS, 397, 1177). This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 23434 SUBJECT: GRB 181123B: Enhanced Swift-XRT position DATE: 18/11/23 08:56:08 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester J.P. Osborne, A.P. Beardmore, P.A. Evans and M.R. Goad (U. Leicester) report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team. Using 987 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 2 UVOT images for GRB 181123B, 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 = 184.36687, +14.59789 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000): 12h 17m 28.05s Dec (J2000): +14d 35' 52.4" 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 circular was automatically generated, and is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 23435 SUBJECT: GRB 181123B: Swift-XRT refined Analysis DATE: 18/11/23 11:33:25 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester D.N. Burrows (PSU), P.A. Evans (U. Leicester), J.P. Osborne (U. Leicester), K.L. Page (U. Leicester), A. Melandri (INAF-OAB), P. D'Avanzo (INAF-OAB), V. D'Elia (ASDC), A. Tohuvavohu (PSU), S. J. LaPorte (PSU) and A.Y. Lien report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: We have analysed 6.3 ks of XRT data for GRB 181123B (Lien et al. GCN Circ. 23432), from 95 s to 16.0 ks after the BAT trigger. The data are entirely in Photon Counting (PC) mode. The enhanced XRT position for this burst was given by Osborne et al. (GCN Circ. 23433). The light curve can be modelled with a power-law decay with a decay index of alpha=1.31 (+0.15, -0.14). A spectrum formed from the PC mode data can be fitted with an absorbed power-law with a photon spectral index of 1.99 (+0.30, -0.20). The best-fitting absorption column is 3.9 (+6.4, -0.8) x 10^20 cm^-2, consistent with the Galactic value of 3.1 x 10^20 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013). The counts to observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux conversion factor deduced from this spectrum is 3.2 x 10^-11 (3.6 x 10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus: Total column: 3.9 (+6.4, -0.8) x 10^20 cm^-2 Galactic foreground: 3.1 x 10^20 cm^-2 Excess significance: <1.6 sigma Photon index: 1.99 (+0.30, -0.20) If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of 1.31, the count rate at T+24 hours will be 1.9 x 10^-4 count s^-1, corresponding to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 6.1 x 10^-15 (6.7 x 10^-15) erg cm^-2 s^-1. The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis are available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/00873186. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 23437 SUBJECT: GRB 181123B: Swift/UVOT Upper Limits DATE: 18/11/23 15:38:28 GMT FROM: Samantha Oates at MSSL GRB 181123B: Swift/UVOT Upper Limits S. R. Oates (U.Warwick) and A. Y. Lien (GSFC/UMBC) report on behalf of the Swift/UVOT team: The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 181123B 84 s after the BAT trigger (Lien et al., GCN Circ. 23432). No optical afterglow consistent with the XRT position (Osborne et al. GCN Circ. 23434) is detected in the initial UVOT exposures. 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 84 233 147 >20.3 u_FC 296 546 246 >19.5 white 84 6529 727 >21.0 v 626 10922 1228 >19.8 b 551 6324 432 >20.1 u 296 6119 659 >20.1 w1 4278 12566 1113 >20.2 m2 5509 11827 1082 >20.5 w2 5100 6734 393 >19.8 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: 23439 SUBJECT: GRB 181123B: Gemini-North optical detection DATE: 18/11/23 20:30:11 GMT FROM: Wen-fai Fong at Northwestern U W. Fong (Northwestern Univ.), N. R. Tanvir (U. Leicester) and A. J. Levan (U. Warwick) report on behalf of a larger collaboration: "We observed the location of the short-duration GRB 181123B (Lien et al., GCN 23432) with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) mounted on the Gemini-North 8-meter telescope. We obtained 18x90-sec each in the i-band at a mid-time of 2018 November 23.618 UT (9.2 hr post-burst). The observations have an airmass range of 1.4-1.9, 0.9” seeing, and were taken in thick, variable clouds. We detect a faint source consistent with the UVOT-enhanced XRT position (Evans et al., GCN 23433; Osborne et al., GCN 23434) at the position: RA(J2000) = 12:17:27.95 Dec(J2000) = +14:35:52.5 +/- 0.05" in each coordinate The source has a preliminary magnitude of i~23.32 +/- 0.25 AB mag, not corrected for Galactic extinction. Both astrometry and photometry are calibrated to SDSS. The source appears to be marginally extended; however, at present it is too weak of a detection to make a strong conclusion. Further observations are planned. We thank the Gemini staff, and in particular observers Julia Scharwaechter and Michael Hoenig, for their assistance with these observations." //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 23440 SUBJECT: GRB 181123B: Keck near-infrared imaging DATE: 18/11/23 20:53:41 GMT FROM: Wen-fai Fong at Northwestern U K. Paterson and W. Fong (Northwestern) report: "We observed the field of the short-duration GRB 181123B (Lien et al., GCN 23432) with the Multi-Object Spectrometer For Infra-Red Exploration (MOSFIRE) mounted on the 10-m Keck I telescope, starting on 2018 November 23 at 14:43:18 UT, 9.2 hours post-burst. We obtained 2100-sec of observations in the J-band in 1.0" seeing. In our combined stack, we identify a near-IR source consistent with the X-ray position of the afterglow (Evans et al., GCN 23433; Osborne et al., GCN 23434) and the Gemini optical source (Fong et al., GCN 23439). Calibrated to 2MASS, we estimate a preliminary brightness of J(AB) = 22.94 +/- 0.19 mag. At this point it is not possible to tell whether this source is point-like or extended. We thank the Keck Observatory staff, in particular Arina, Joel, Alessandro, Josh and Randy, for their assistance with planning and executing these observations." //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 23443 SUBJECT: GRB 181123B: Swift-BAT lag analysis and search for extended emission DATE: 18/11/24 03:11:55 GMT FROM: Amy Lien at GSFC J. P. Norris (BSU), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), A. Y. Lien (GSFC/UMBC) report: We report the spectral lag analysis and the search for extended emission for GRB 181123B (Lien et al., GCN Circ. 23432). Using the 8-ms binned light curve, the spectral lag of the short pulse is 6 (+11, -11) ms for the 100-350 keV to 25-50 keV bands, and 10 (+14, -11) ms for the 50-100 keV to 15-25 keV bands. These lag values are consistent with a short GRB. The Bayesian block analysis using the mask-tagged light curves suggests that there may be a marginal (~ 3 sigma) extended emission that lasts until ~T+60 s. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 23444 SUBJECT: GRB 181123B: Global MASTER Net optical inspection DATE: 18/11/24 15:49:54 GMT FROM: Vladimir Lipunov at Moscow State U/Krylov Obs V. Lipunov, E. Gorbovskoy, V.Kornilov, N.Tyurina, P.Balanutsa,A.Kuznetsov, V.V.Chazov, D. Vlasenko Lomonosov Moscow State University, Sternberg Astronomical Institute R. Podesta, F. Podesta, C. Lopez, C.Francile Observatorio Astronomico Felix Aguilar (OAFA) Hugo Levato Instituto de Ciencias Astronomicas, de la Tierra y del Espacio (ICATE) R. Rebolo, M. Serra, N. Lodieu, G. Israelian, L. Suarez-Andres The Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias D. Buckley, South African Astronomical Observatory A. Tlatov, V.Senik, A.V. Parhomenko, D. Dormidontov Kislovodsk Solar Station of the Pulkovo Observatory O. Gres, N.M. Budnev, Yu.Ishmuhametova Applied Physics Institute of Irkutsk State University V. Yurkov, A. Gabovich, Yu. Sergienko Blagoveschensk Educational State University, Blagoveschensk MASTER-OAFA robotic telescope (MASTER-Net: http://observ.pereplet.ru, Lipunov et al., 2010, Advances in Astronomy, vol. 2010, 30L) located in Argentina (OAFA observatory of San Juan National University) was pointed to the GRB181123B (Lien et al.,GCN 23432) at 2018-11-23 08:15:00 UT. On our 4-th (180s exposure) set we not found optical transient within Swift error-box (ra=184.367 dec=14.5975 r=0.05) brighter than 17.0. The galactic latitude b = -60 deg., longitude l = 98 deg. The observations made on zenit distance = 32 deg.The moon ( 1 % bright part) below the horizon (The altitude of the Moon is -44 deg. ). The sun altitude is -50.0 deg. The object can be observed till 2018-10-10 09:24:14 MASTER-Kislovodsk robotic telescope (MASTER-Net: http://observ.pereplet.ru, Lipunov et al., 2010, Advances in Astronomy, vol. 2010, 30L) located in Russia (Lomonosov MSU, Kislovodsk Solar Station of Pulkovo observatory) was pointed to the GRB181123B (Lien et al., GCN 23432) 63194 sec after notice time and 63194 sec after trigger time at 2018-11-23 23:06:17 UT. On our 10-th (180s exposure) set , obtained 72767 sec after tigger time at 2018-11-24 01:45:51 UT, we not found optical transient within Swift error-box (ra=184.367 dec=14.5975 r=0.05) brighter than 18.1. The galactic latitude b = 75 deg., longitude l = 272 deg. The observations made on zenit distance = 53 deg.The moon (99 % bright part) is 34 deg. above the horizon. The distance between moon and object is 106 The sun altitude is -26.2 deg. The object can be observed till sunrise at 2018-11-24 04:14:26 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 23452 SUBJECT: GRB 181123B: Insight-HXMT/HE detection DATE: 18/11/26 06:54:25 GMT FROM: QiBin Yi at IHEP, HXMT Q. B. Yi, C. K. Li, X. B. Li, G. Li, J. Y. Liao, S. L. Xiong, C. Z. Liu, X. F. Li, Z. W. Li, Z. Chang, X. F. Lu, J. L. Zhao, A. M. Zhang, Y. F. Zhang, C. L. Zou (IHEP), Y. J. Jin, Z. Zhang (THU), T. P. Li (IHEP/THU), F. J. Lu, L. M. Song, H. Y. Wang, M. Wu, Y. P. Xu, S. N. Zhang (IHEP), report on behalf of the Insight-HXMT team: At 2018-11-23T05:33:03.09 (T0), the Insight-HXMT/HE detected GRB 181123B (trigger ID: HEB181123231) in a routine search of the data, which was also detected by the SWIFT/BAT (J. P. Norris et al. 2018, GCN 23443) The Insight-HXMT/HE light curve mainly consists of a pulse with a duration (T90) of 0.23 s measured from T0+0.16 s. The 50-ms peak rate, measured from T0+0.28 s, is 5091.4 cnts/s. The total counts from this burst is 2060.5 counts. URL_LC: http://www.hxmt.org/images/GRB/HEB181123231_lc.jpg All measurements above are made with the CsI detectors operating in the regular mode with the energy range of about 80-800 keV (record energy). Only gamma-rays with energy greater than about 200 keV can penetrate the spacecraft and leave signals in the CsI detectors installed inside of the telescope. Insight-HXMT is the first Chinese space X-ray telescope, which was fundedjointly by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). More information could be found at: http://www.hxmt.org. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 23461 SUBJECT: GRB 181123B: Keck further near-infrared imaging DATE: 18/11/27 01:09:10 GMT FROM: Kerry Paterson at North Western U. K. Paterson, W. Fong (Northwestern), K. De (Caltech), K. Alexander, D. Coppejans, A. Hajela, R. Margutti, and G. Terreran (Northwestern) report: "We observed the field of the short-duration GRB 181123B (Lien et al., GCN 23432) with the Multi-Object Spectrometer For Infra-Red Exploration (MOSFIRE) mounted on the 10-m Keck I telescope, starting on 2018 November 26 at 14:57:43 UT, 1.94 days after our previous MOSFIRE observations (Paterson et al. GCN 23440) and 3.38 days after the burst. We obtained 2142-sec of observations in the J-band in 0.7" seeing and clear conditions. We detect a NIR source that is clearly extended, with a brightness and position consistent with our previous observations (Paterson et al. GCN 23440) and with the Gemini optical source position (Fong et al. GCN 23439). Image subtraction between our MOSFIRE observations also yields no residuals in or around the XRT position (Evans et al. GCN 23433; Osborne et al. GCN 23434) or the position of the optical source. Given the lack of residuals and the extended nature of the NIR source, we propose this as the host galaxy of GRB 181123B. We also place a 3-sigma upper limit of J>23.3 mag (AB, for epoch 1 at 9.2 hr post-burst) on afterglow emission from GRB 181123B. We thank the Keck staff for their assistance with these ToO observations." //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 23467 SUBJECT: GRB 181123B: ATCA 5/9 GHz rapid-response radio observation DATE: 18/11/28 01:16:17 GMT FROM: Gemma Anderson at Curtin U G. E. Anderson (Curtin), M. E. Bell (UTS), J. Stevens (CASS), P. J. Hancock (Curtin), J. C. A. Miller-Jones (Curtin), A. Bahramian (Curtin), K. W. Bannister (CASS), A. J, van der Horst (GWU), S. D. Ryder (Macquarie), J-P. Macquart (Curtin), R. M. Plotkin (Curtin), A. Rowlinson (UvA) We used the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) rapid-response mode to perform a triggered radio observation of the short GRB 181123B. The ATCA responded to the Swift-BAT detection (Lien et al., GCN 23432), automatically scheduling observations to begin on 2018 Nov 23.753 UT for 8.5 hours (12.5 hours post-burst), when the GRB had risen above the horizon. No radio source was detected at the XRT/optical position (Evans et al., GCN 23433, Fong et al., GCN 23439), with 3 sigma upper-limits of 66 microJy and 69 microJy at 5 and 9 GHz, respectively. We thank the ATCA and CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science (CASS) staff for supporting this new mode of operation.