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GCN Circular 37589

Subject
LIGO/Virgo S240919bn: Swift XRT observations, 10 X-ray sources
Date
2024-09-23T12:41:39Z (3 months ago)
From
Phil Evans at U of Leicester <pae9@star.le.ac.uk>
Via
email
K.L. Page (U. Leicester), P.A. Evans (U. Leicester), J.A. Kennea (PSU),
A. Tohuvavohu (U. Toronto), S.B. Cenko (NASA/GSFC), R.A.J. Eyles-Ferris
(U. Leicester), A.P. Beardmore (U. Leicester), M.G. Bernardini
(INAF-OAB), A.A. Breeveld (UCL-MSSL), S. Campana (INAF-OAB), J.J.
Delaunay (PSU), M. De Pasquale (University of Messina), S. Dichiara
(PSU), P. D’Avanzo (INAF-OAB), A. D’Aì (INAF-IASFPA) , V. D’Elia
(ASI-SSDC & INAF-OAR), C. Gronwall (PSU), D. Hartmann (Clemson
University), N. Klingler (NASA-GSFC / UMBC / CRESST II), N.P.M. Kuin
(UCL-MSSL), S. Laha (NASA/GSFC), S.R. Oates (U. Birmingham), J.P.
Osborne (U. Leicester), P. O’Brien (U. Leicester), M.J. Page
(UCL-MSSL), G. Raman (PSU) S. Ronchini (PSU), T. Sbarrato (INAF-OAB),
B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB), M.H. Siegel (PSU), G. Tagliaferri (INAF-OAB),
E. Troja (U Tor Vergata, INAF) report on behalf of the Swift team:

Swift has carried out 217 observations of the LVC error region for the
GW trigger S240919bn convolved with the 2MPZ catalogue (Bilicki et al.
2014, ApJS, 210, 9), using 139 fields from the 'BAYESTAR' GW
localisation map and 78 fields from the 'ligo-skymap-from-samples' GW
localisation map. As these are 3D skymaps, galaxy distances were taken
into account in selecting which ones to observe. The observations span
from 3.2 ks to 92 ks after the LVC trigger, and the XRT has covered 6.6
deg^2 on the sky (corrected for overlaps). This covers 55% of the
probability in the 'ligo-skymap-from-samples' (version
ligo-skymap-from-samples.fits.gz) skymap, and 55% after convolving with
the 2MPZ galaxy catalogue, as described by Evans et al. (2016, MNRAS, 
462, 1591). Using the earlier  'BAYESTAR' (version BAYESTAR.fits.gz)
skymap our observations cover 46% of the probability (45% when
convolved). 

We have detected 10 X-ray sources. Each source is assigned a rank of
1-4 which describes how likely it is to be related to the GW trigger,
with 1 being the most likely and 4 being the least likely. The ranks
are described at https://www.swift.ac.uk/ranks.php.

We have found:

  * 0 sources of rank 1
  * 0 sources of rank 2
  * 6 sources of rank 3
  * 4 sources of rank 4


RANK 3 sources
==============

These are uncatalogued X-ray sources, however they are not brighter
than previous upper limits, so do not stand out as likely counterparts
to the GW trigger.

| Source ID	 | RA		  | Dec 	   | Err90   |
|  S240919bn_X1  | 10h 26m 54.08s | -79d 50' 18.5" |	5.3" |
|  S240919bn_X3  | 10h 25m 18.06s | -79d 58' 45.0" |   43.1" |
|  S240919bn_X4  | 10h 37m 19.30s | -79d 30' 10.3" |	6.9" |
|  S240919bn_X9  | 10h 24m 36.66s | -79d 58' 08.5" |	7.3" |
| S240919bn_X10  | 03h 33m 11.93s | +37d 44' 32.6" |	8.3" |
| S240919bn_X11  | 03h 35m 10.00s | +36d 46' 56.8" |   41.6" |


RANK 4 sources
==============

These are catalogued X-ray sources, showing no signs of outburst
compared to previous observations, so they are not likely to be related
to the GW trigger.

| Source ID	 | RA		  | Dec 	   | Err90   |
|  S240919bn_X2  | 03h 33m 18.93s | +37d 18' 10.8" |	4.5" |
|  S240919bn_X5  | 03h 34m 17.94s | +35d 46' 04.0" |	8.2" |
|  S240919bn_X6  | 03h 33m 10.29s | +36d 33' 47.7" |	7.9" |
|  S240919bn_X7  | 03h 34m 29.02s | +37d 14' 55.3" |	6.4" |

For all flux conversions and comparisons with catalogues and upper
limits from other missions, we assumed a power-law spectrum with
NH=3x10^20 cm^-2, and photon index (Gamma)=1.7, unless otherwise
stated.

The results of the XRT automated analysis, including details of the
sources listed above, are online at
https://www.swift.ac.uk/LVC/S240919bn

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



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