GCN Circular 14029

J.A. Kennea (PSU), M.C. Stroh (PSU), D.N. Burrows (PSU), J.P. Osborne
(U. Leicester), K.L. Page (U. Leicester), C. Pagani (U. Leicester), P.
D'Avanzo (INAF-OAB), V. D'Elia (ASDC), A. Maselli  (INAF-IASFPA) and 
report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: report on behalf of the
Swift-XRT team:

We have analysed 8.7 ks of XRT data for GRB 121201A (Yershov et al. et
al. GCN Circ. 14025
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 ), from 101 s to 33.6 ks after the  BAT trigger. The
data comprise 24 s in Windowed Timing (WT) mode (the first 7 s were
taken while Swift was slewing) with the remainder in Photon Counting
(PC) mode. The enhanced XRT position for this burst was given by
Beardmore et al. (GCN. Circ 14027).

The light curve can be modelled with  a power-law decay with a decay
index of alpha=1.24 (+0.06, -0.05).

A spectrum formed from the PC mode data can be fitted with an absorbed
power-law with a photon spectral index of 1.62 (+0.15, -0.09). The
best-fitting absorption column is  2.15 (+3.39, -0.16) x 10^20 cm^-2,
consistent with the Galactic value of 2.0 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 4.3 x 10^-11 (4.4 x
10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. 

A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus:
Total column:	     2.15 (+3.39, -0.16) x 10^20 cm^-2
Galactic foreground: 2.0 x 10^20 cm^-2
Excess significance: <1.6 sigma
Photon index:	     1.62 (+0.15, -0.09)

If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of
1.24, the count rate at T+24 hours will be 1.4 x 10^-3 count s^-1,
corresponding to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 5.8 x
10^-14 (6.0 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/00540178.

This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.

[GCN OPS NOTE(19dec12): Per author's request, in the first sentence
the Yershov/14025 reference was filled in.]