GRB 131202A

D. Kocevski (NASA/GSFC/ORAU), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC),
W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), M. G. Bernardini (INAF-OAB),
D. N. Burrows (PSU), S. B. Cenko (GSFC), P. D'Avanzo (INAF-OAB),
V. D'Elia (ASDC), P. A. Evans (U Leicester), N. Gehrels (NASA/GSFC),
S. T. Holland (STScI), J. A. Kennea (PSU),
H. A. Krimm (CRESST/GSFC/USRA), A. Y. Lien (NASA/GSFC/ORAU),
D. Malesani (DARK/NBI), F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC),
A. Melandri (INAF-OAB), K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL),
M. H. Siegel (PSU) and R. L. C. Starling (U Leicester) report on
behalf of the Swift Team:

At 15:12:09 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 131202A (trigger=579982).  Swift slewed immediately to the burst. 
The BAT on-board calculated location is 
RA, Dec 344.056, -21.658 which is 
   RA(J2000) = 22h 56m 13s
   Dec(J2000) = -21d 39' 27"
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including 
systematic uncertainty).  The BAT light curve showed a single-peaked
structure with a duration of about 30 sec.  The peak count rate
was ~1200 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~2 sec after the trigger. 

The XRT began observing the field at 15:14:02.9 UT, 113.7 seconds after
the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find a fading,
uncatalogued X-ray source with an enhanced position: RA, Dec 344.0540,
-21.6627 which is equivalent to:
   RA(J2000)  = 22h 56m 12.96s
   Dec(J2000) = -21d 39' 45.6"
with an uncertainty of 2.3 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This
location is 18 arcseconds from the BAT onboard position, within the BAT
error circle. This position may be improved as more data are received;
the latest position is available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/sper. 

A power-law fit to a spectrum formed from promptly downlinked event
data gives a column density in excess of the Galactic value (2.29 x
10^20 cm^-2, Kalberla et al. 2005), with an excess column of 4.3
(+3.70/-2.92) x 10^21 cm^-2 (90% confidence). 

UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter
starting 116 seconds after the BAT trigger. No credible afterglow candidate has
been found in the initial data products. The 2.7'x2.7' sub-image covers 100% of
the XRT error circle. The typical 3-sigma upper limit has been about 19.6 mag. 
The 8'x8' region for the list of sources generated on-board covers 100% of the
XRT error circle. The list of sources is typically complete to about 18 mag. No
correction has been made for the expected extinction corresponding to E(B-V) of
0.03. 

Burst Advocate for this burst is D. Kocevski (daniel.kocevski AT nasa.gov). 
Please contact the BA by email if you require additional information
regarding Swift followup of this burst. In extremely urgent cases, after
trying the Burst Advocate, you can contact the Swift PI by phone (see
Swift TOO web site for information: http://www.swift.psu.edu/too.html.)

G. Stratta (OAR/INAF), B. Gendre (ARTEMIS), S. Dall'Osso (IAAT), 
Giovanni De Cesare (IAPS) report :

We have activated a ToO observation of GRB 131202A with XMM-Newton, 
starting at 2013-12-03 00:23:14 UTC for about 8 hours and 20 minutes. 
All ground based follow-up (especially in optical and radio) are encouraged.


This message can be cited.

A. Nicuesa Guelbenzu, S. Klose, B. Stecklum, and S. Schmidl (TLS Tautenburg)
report:

We observed the field of GRB 131202A (Kocevski et al., GCN 15559
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 ) with the
Tautenburg 1.34-m Schmidt telescope under very high airmass (> 3).
Observations in R, I and GunnZ started at 16:23 UT, around 70 min after
the GRB trigger.

Inside the 2.3 arcsec XRT error circle (Kocevski et al.) we do not find
any new object in any band. We estimate a preliminary magnitude of R > 20.

U.Quadri, L.Strabla and R.Girelli report:

We imaged the field of GRB 131202A 
with the robotic telescope of (IAU 
station 565) Bassano Bresciano 
Observatory, Italy (member of ISSP:
Italian Supernovae Search Project).

The observations started 88m. after the 			
GRB trigger,at the end of the twilight,
with our schmidt telescope 
D=320/400 mm F/D=3.1.

Weather conditions were good. 				

We co-added 3 series of 20 unfiltered exposures 
of 120 sec each.						

We did not found any optical counterpart 
in the error box of the XRTcandidate
(D. Kocevski et al, GCN 15559
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 ).

Start      End       Vlim
88min     235min     19.5  


Magnitudes were estimated with the USNO-B1 cat. 
and are not corrected for galactic dust extinction.

The images are available at:
http://www.osservatoriobassano.org/GRB.asp

The message may be cited.

J.P. Osborne, A.P. Beardmore, P.A. Evans and M.R. Goad (U. Leicester) 
report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team.

Using 1178 s of XRT Photon Counting mode data and 2 UVOT
images for GRB 131202A, we find an astrometrically corrected X-ray
position (using the XRT-UVOT alignment and matching UVOT field sources
to the USNO-B1 catalogue): RA, Dec = 344.05424, -21.66247 which is equivalent
to:

RA (J2000): 22h 56m 13.02s
Dec (J2000): -21d 39' 44.9"

with an uncertainty of 1.9 arcsec (radius, 90% confidence).

This position may be improved as more data are received. The latest
position can be viewed at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_positions. Position
enhancement is described by Goad et al. (2007, A&A, 476, 1401) and Evans
et al. (2009, MNRAS, 397, 1177).

This circular was automatically generated, and is an official product of the
Swift-XRT team.

Andrew C. Collazzi (NASA/ORAU) reports on behalf of the Fermi GBM
Team:

"At 15:12:10.85 UT on 2 December 2013, the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst
Monitor triggered and located GRB 131202A (trigger 407689933 / 
131202633), which was also detected by the Swift/BAT and Swift/XRT
(Kocevski et al., GCN 15559
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 ). The GBM on-ground location is
consistent with the Swift/XRT position.

The angle from the Fermi LAT boresight is 86 degrees.

The GBM light curve consists of a single pulse with a duration (T90)
of 26 s (50-300 keV). We find the 1.024-s peak flux (10 - 1000 keV),
measured starting from T0-2.560, to be 1.5 +/- 0.2 ph/(s cm^2).
The time-averaged spectrum from T0-8.2 s to T0+11.3 s is best fit
by a power law function with an exponential high-energy cutoff.
The power law index is -1.10 +/- 0.25 and the cutoff energy,
parameterized as Epeak, is 288.4 +/- 172.0 keV.

The event fluence (10-1000 keV) in this time interval is
(1.6 +/- 0.4)E-06 erg/cm^2.

The spectral analysis results presented above are preliminary;
final results will be published in the GBM GRB Catalog."

A. Cucchiara (ORAU/GSFC), Nat Butler (ASU), Alan M. Watson (UNAM),
Alexander Kutyrev (GSFC), William H. Lee (UNAM), Michael G. Richer 
(UNAM),
Chris Klein (UCB), Ori Fox (UCB), J. Xavier Prochaska (UCSC), Josh 
Bloom (UCB),
Eleonora Troja (GSFC), Owen Littlejohns (ASU), Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz 
(UCSC),
Jos�� A. de Diego (UNAM), Leonid Georgiev (UNAM), Jes��s Gonz��lez (UNAM),
Carlos Rom��n-Z����iga (UNAM), Neil Gehrels (GSFC), and Harvey Moseley 
(GSFC)
report:

We observed the field of GRB 131202A (Kocevski, et al., GCN 15559
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 ) with 
the
Reionization and Transients Infrared Camera (RATIR; www.ratir.org) on 
the
1.5m Harold Johnson Telescope at the Observatorio Astron��mico Nacional 
on
Sierra San Pedro M��rtir from 2013/12 3.08 to 2013/12 3.15 UTC (10.81
to 12.32 hours after the BAT trigger), obtaining a total of 1.04 hours
exposure in the r and i bands and 0.44 hours exposure in the Z,
Y, J, and H bands.

For a source within the Swift-XRT error circle, in comparison with 
2MASS, we
obtain the following upper limits (3-sigma):

  r	> 22.99
   i	> 22.56
   Z	> 21.50
   Y	> 20.68
   J	> 20.43
   H	> 20.05

These magnitudes are in the AB system and are not corrected for 
Galactic
extinction in the direction of the GRB.

We thank the staff of the Observatorio Astron��mico Nacional in San 
Pedro
M��rtir.

B.P. Gompertz (U. Leicester), B. Sbarufatti (INAF-OAB/PSU), P. D'Avanzo
(INAF-OAB), V. D'Elia (ASDC), J.A. Kennea (PSU), V. Mangano (PSU), M.C.
Stroh (PSU), J.P. Osborne (U. Leicester), K.L. Page (U. Leicester) and
D. Kocevski report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team:

We have analysed 7.1 ks of XRT data for GRB 131202A (Kocevski  et al.
GCN Circ. 15559
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 ),  from 99 s to 33.8 ks after the  BAT trigger. The
data comprise 267 s in Windowed Timing (WT) mode (the first 8 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
Osborne et al. (GCN. Circ 15564).

The light curve can be modelled with  a power-law decay with a decay
index of alpha=2.00 (+0.23, -0.24).

A spectrum formed from the PC mode data can be fitted with an absorbed
power-law with a photon spectral index of 2.1 (+0.4, -0.3). The
best-fitting absorption column is  1.3 (+1.0, -0.8) x 10^21 cm^-2, in
excess of the Galactic value of 2.3 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 3.5 x 10^-11 (4.9 x 10^-11) erg
cm^-2 count^-1. 

A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus:
Total column:	     1.3 (+1.0, -0.8) x 10^21 cm^-2
Galactic foreground: 2.3 x 10^20 cm^-2
Excess significance: 2.2 sigma
Photon index:	     2.1 (+0.4, -0.3)

If the light curve continues to decay with a power-law decay index of
2.00, the count rate at T+24 hours will be 6.2 x 10^-6 count s^-1,
corresponding to an observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux of 2.2 x
10^-16 (3.0 x 10^-16) erg cm^-2 s^-1.

The results of the XRT-team automatic analysis are available at
http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/00579982.

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

S. R. Oates (UCL-MSSL) and D. Kocevski (NASA/GSFC/ORAU)
report on behalf of the Swift/UVOT team:

The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 131202A
117 s after the BAT trigger (Kocevski et al., GCN Circ. 15559
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 ).
No optical afterglow consistent with the XRT position
(Osborne et al., GCN Circ. 15564
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 ) is detected in the initial UVOT exposures.
Preliminary 3-sigma upper limits using the UVOT photometric system
(Breeveld et al. 2011, AIP Conf. Proc. 1358, 373) for the initial exposures are:

Filter         T_start(s)   T_stop(s)      Exp(s)         Mag
white_FC        117          267            147         >20.6
white           117	     1344           363         >21.2
v               608	     1231           78          >18.6
b               534	     1330           78          >19.6
u_FC            277	     527            246         >19.9
u               277	     1305           304         >20.1
w1              657	     1280           78          >19.0
m2              632	     1256           78          >18.9
w2              583	     1207           78          >19.3

The magnitudes in the table are not corrected for the Galactic extinction
due to the reddening of E(B-V) = 0.03 in the direction of the burst
(Schlegel et al. 1998).

D. M. Palmer (LANL), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC),
J. R. Cummings (GSFC/UMBC), N. Gehrels (GSFC),D. Kocevski (NASA/GSFC/ORAU),
H. A. Krimm (GSFC/USRA),A. Y. Lien (NASA/UMBC), C. B. Markwardt (GSFC),
T. Sakamoto (AGU), M. Stamatikos (OSU), J. Tueller (GSFC),T. N. Ukwatta (MSU)
(i.e. the Swift-BAT team):

Using the data set from T-61 to T+242 sec from the recent telemetry downlink,
we report further analysis of BAT GRB 131202A (trigger #579982)
(Kocevski, et al., GCN Circ. 15559
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 ).  The BAT ground-calculated position is
RA, Dec = 344.005, -21.650 deg which is
    RA(J2000)  =  22h 56m 01.3s
    Dec(J2000) = -21d 38' 58.9"
with an uncertainty of 2.6 arcmin, (radius, sys+stat, 90% containment).
The partial coding was 63%.  The mask-weighted light curve shows a pair of
overlapping peaks covering the period from T-10 to T+40 seconds.
T90 (15-350 keV) is 30.4 +- 10.9 sec (estimated error including systematics).

The time-averaged spectrum from T-1.62 to T+37.98 sec is best fit by a simple
power-law model.  The power law index of the time-averaged spectrum is
1.58 +- 0.26.  The fluence in the 15-150 keV band is 6.1 +- 1.0 x 10^-7erg/cm2.
The 1-sec peak photon flux measured from T+1.64 sec in the 15-150 keV band
is 0.7 +- 0.2 ph/cm2/sec.  All the quoted errors are at the 90% confidence
level.

The results of the batgrbproduct analysis are available at
http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/notices_s/579982/BA/

R. Ruffini, C.L. Bianco, M. Enderli, M. Kovacevic, M. Muccino, A.V. Penacchioni, G.B. Pisani, J.A. Rueda, Y. Wang report:

The X-ray observations of GRB 131202A (1) point to the possibility that it fulfills the IGC paradigm (2,3). A preliminary overlapping of its X-ray (0.3-10 keV in rest-frame) luminosity within the one of GRB 090618, namely an IGC prototype (4), gives an estimate of the redshift of z~10 (see Fig. 1 http://www.icranet.org/images/GCN/GRB131202A_Fig1.pdf). Continuous monitoring and complementary observations in all possible wavelengths are encouraged.

The extension of the validity of the IGC paradigm to very large cosmological distances has already been clearly demonstrated by the case of GRB 090423 (5) at z=8.2 (6,7,8,9,10,11): its X-ray (0.3-10 keV in rest-frame) luminosity again overlaps perfectly well with the one of GRB 090618 (see Fig. 2 http://www.icranet.org/images/GCN/GRB131202A_Fig2.pdf).


References:

(1) Kocevski et al., GCN 15559
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(2) Rueda & R. Ruffini, ApJLett, 758, L7 (2012)���
(3) Pisani et al., A&A, 552, L5 (2013)���
(4) Izzo et al., A&A, 548, L5 (2012)
(5) Krimm et al., GCN 9198
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(6) Cucchiara et al., GCN 9213
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(7) Olivares et al., GCN 9215
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(8) Thoene et al., GCN 9216
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(9) Perley et al., GCN 9217
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(10) Tanvir et al., GCN 9219
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(11) Fernandez-Soto et al., GCN 9222
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K. Varela, J. Graham, J. Greiner and D.A. Kann (all MPE Garching) report
on behalf of the GROND team:

We observed the field of the GRB 131202A (Kocevski et al., GCN #15559
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 )
simultaneously in g'r'i'z'JHKs with GROND (Greiner et al. 2008, PASP 120,
405) mounted at the 2.2 m MPG telescope at La Silla Observatory (Chile).

Observations started at 01:01 UT on 03 December 2013, 9.5 hours after the
GRB. They were performed at an average seeing of 1.4" and at an average
airmass of 1.5.

Based on an observation with a total integration time of 6920 s in
g'r'i'z' and 5760s in JHK, we detect a source inside the enhanced XRT
circle (Osborne et al., GCN #15564
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 ) in the i' and z' bands, with
magnitudes

i' = 24.5 +/- 0.3 mag,
z' = 23.6 +/- 0.2 mag,

and 3 sigma limiting magnitudes (all in the AB system) :

g'> 25.5 mag,
r'> 25.3 mag,
J > 22.0 mag,
H > 21.4 mag,
K > 19.9 mag.

Magnitudes are calibrated against GROND zeropoints (griz) and 2MASS stars
(JHK), and are not corrected for the Galactic foreground extinction
corresponding to a reddening of E_(B-V) = 0.03 mag in the direction of the
burst (Schlegel et al. 1998).

Performing a joint fit with contemporary Swift X-ray data, we find that
the detections and upper limits can be explained with a low redshift and
high extinction (up to Av ~ 4.2 for z = 0 and SMC dust), with low
extinction and a redshift z ~ 5, or combinations in between. The
near-negligible NH column density at z = 0 ((1.3+1.0-0.8) x 10^21 cm^-2,
Gompertz et al., GCN #15567
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 ) and assuming a non-extreme dust-to-gas ratio
point to a higher probability for the z ~ 5 scenario.

We note that in any case, the significant detection in i' and the i'- z'
color conservatively imply z < 6, in contrast to the prediction by Ruffini
et al. (GCN #15576
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 ).