GCN Circular 43994
Subject
GRB 260310A: Einstein Probe Follow-up X-ray Telescope (FXT) Detection
Event
Date
2026-03-13T17:39:34Z (3 days ago)
From
Rahul Jayaraman at Cornell University <rj438@cornell.edu>
Via
Web form
Rahul Jayaraman (Cornell), Anna Y. Q. Ho (Cornell), K-Ryan Hinds (Caltech), S. Y. Fu (HUST), R. D. Liang, M. J. Liu, Z. X. Ling, Hui Sun, Weimin Yuan (NAO, CAS), Genevieve Schroeder (Cornell), Xander J. Hall (CMU), Michael Coughlin (UMN) report:
The Follow-up X-ray Telescope on board the Einstein Probe observed the position of AT2026fgk, the likely counterpart to GRB 260310A (Fermi GBM team, GCN 43951; Arya et al., GCN 43958; Konno et al., GCN 43974; Martin-Carrillo et al., GCN 43979; Méndez et al., GCN 43980; Becerra et al., GCN 43991), beginning at 2026-03-12T17:22:58 UTC. The exposure time of this observation was 1498 s. An uncatalogued X-ray source was detected at RA = 219.3158, DEC = 71.8417, with an uncertainty of 10 arcsec (radius, 90% CL statistical and systematic); this X-ray source is consistent with the optical position initially reported by Hinds et al., AstroNote 2026-65.
We performed a preliminary analysis of the FXT spectrum in the 0.5-10 keV energy range from both the A and B modules. We fit an absorbed power-law with a line-of-sight hydrogen column density of 2.65 x 10^20 cm^-2. We find a photon index of 1.55 ± 0.09, with an unabsorbed flux of (5.51 ± 0.22) x 10^-12 erg/s/cm^2. At the redshift of z = 0.153 from Ugarte Postigo et al. (GCN 43984), this would correspond to an X-ray luminosity of (3.74 ± 0.15) x 10^44 erg/s. Parameter uncertainties are reported at the 90% C.L.
We consider this source the likely X-ray afterglow to GRB 260310A, and encourage further follow-up.
The Einstein Probe is a space mission supported by the Strategic Priority Program on Space Sciénce of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the European Space Agency, the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (Germany), and the Centre National d'études Spatiales (France).