GCN Circular 27511

D.N. Burrows (PSU), J. D. Gropp (PSU), A.P. Beardmore (U. Leicester),
P.A. Evans (U. Leicester), J.P. Osborne (U. Leicester), T. Sbarrato
(INAF-OAB), P. D'Avanzo (INAF-OAB), M.G. Bernardini (INAF-OAB), J.A.
Kennea (PSU) and J.D. Gropp report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team:

We have analysed 7.6 ks of XRT data for GRB 200409A (Gropp et al. GCN
Circ. 27509
Not found
 
 
), from 59 s to 18.1 ks after the  BAT trigger. The data
comprise 7 s in Windowed Timing (WT) mode (taken while Swift was
slewing), with the remainder in Photon Counting (PC) mode. The enhanced
XRT position for this burst was given by Evans et al. (GCN Circ.
27510
Not found
 
 
).

The light curve can be modelled with a series of power-law decays. The
initial decay index is alpha=2.8 (+5.2, -0.8). At T+123 s  the decay
flattens to an alpha of -0.2 (+0.4, -0.7) before breaking again at
T+441 s to a final decay with index alpha=0.80 (+0.34, -0.07).

A spectrum formed from the PC mode data can be fitted with an absorbed
power-law with a photon spectral index of 1.94 (+0.17, -0.16). The
best-fitting absorption column is  3.2 (+3.7, -1.9) x 10^20 cm^-2,
consistent with the Galactic value of 1.3 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 3.3 x 10^-11 (3.6 x
10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. 

A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus:
Total column:	     3.2 (+3.7, -1.9) x 10^20 cm^-2
Galactic foreground: 1.3 x 10^20 cm^-2
Excess significance: <1.6 sigma
Photon index:	     1.94 (+0.17, -0.16)

If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of
0.80, the count rate at T+24 hours will be 9.0 x 10^-3 count s^-1,
corresponding to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 3.0 x
10^-13 (3.2 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/00965484.

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