TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 40113 SUBJECT: GRB 250407A: Swift-XRT afterglow detection DATE: 25/04/08 00:14:46 GMT FROM: Phil Evans at U of Leicester S. Dichiara (PSU), J.P. Osborne (U. Leicester), K.L. Page (U. Leicester), M. Perri (SSDC & INAF-OAR), V. D'Elia (SSDC & INAF-OAR), B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB), D.N. Burrows (PSU), M. A. Williams (PSU) and P.A. Evans (U. Leicester) reports on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: Swift-XRT has performed follow-up observations of the Fermi/GBM-detected burst GRB 250407A (GCN circ. 40104, GCN circ. 40105). We searched for X-ray sources in 293 s of Photon Counting (PC) mode data. The total exposure at the position of the afterglow (see below) is 293 s, obtained between T0+18.8 ks and T0+19.1 ks. An uncatalogued X-ray source is detected within the estimated 1-sigma (statistical) SRG/ART-XC error region (20 arcsec; GCN circ. 40110) and is above the RASS 3-sigma upper limit at this position, and is therefore likely the GRB afterglow. Using 293 s of PC mode data and 1 UVOT image, we find an enhanced XRT position (using the XRT-UVOT alignment and matching UVOT field sources to the USNO-B1 catalogue): RA, Dec = 110.75876, +36.79827 which is equivalent to: RA (J2000): 07h 23m 02.10s Dec(J2000): +36d 47' 53.8" with an uncertainty of 2.8 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence). This position is 6.9 arcsec from the SRG/ART-XC position reported by Molkov et al (GCN circ. 40110). We note that the source has faded since the SRG/ART-XC observation. A spectrum formed from the PC mode data can be fitted with an absorbed power-law with a photon spectral index of 1.8 (+0.4, -0.3). The best-fitting absorption column is 3.0 (+1.7, -1.4) x 10^21 cm^-2, in excess of the Galactic value of 7.0 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 4.3 x 10^-11 (5.8 x 10^-11) erg cm^-2 count^-1. A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus: Total column: 3.0 (+1.7, -1.4) x 10^21 cm^-2 Galactic foreground: 7.0 x 10^20 cm^-2 Excess significance: 2.8 sigma Photon index: 1.8 (+0.4, -0.3) The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis of the likely afterglow are at https://www.swift.ac.uk/ToO_GRBs/00021826/Source1.php. The results of the full analysis of the XRT observations are available at https://www.swift.ac.uk/ToO_GRBs/00021826. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.