EP250404a, GRB 250404A
GCN Circular 40236
Subject
GRB 250404A / EP250404a: GRBAlpha detection
Date
2025-04-24T15:03:18Z (4 months ago)
From
Marianna Dafčíková at Masaryk University <500025@mail.muni.cz>
Via
Web form
M. Dafcikova, J. Ripa (Masaryk U.), A. Pal (Konkoly Observatory), N. Werner (Masaryk U.), M. Ohno, H. Takahashi (Hiroshima U.), L. Meszaros, B. Csak (Konkoly Observatory), N. Husarikova, F. Munz , M. Topinka, M. Duriskova, M. Kolar, L. Szakszonova, J.-P. Breuer, F. Hroch (Masaryk U.), T. Urbanec, M. Kasal, A. Povalac (Brno U. of Technology), J. Hudec, J. Kapus, M. Frajt (Spacemanic s.r.o), R. Laszlo, M. Koleda (Needronix s.r.o), M. Smelko, P. Hanak, P. Lipovsky (Technical U. of Kosice), G. Galgoczi (Wigner Research Center/Eotvos U.), Y. Uchida, H. Poon, H. Matake (Hiroshima U.), N. Uchida (ISAS/JAXA), T. Bozoki (Eotvos U.), G. Dalya (Eotvos U.), T. Enoto (Kyoto U.), Zs. Frei (Eotvos U.), G. Friss (Eotvos U.), Y. Fukazawa, K. Hirose (Hiroshima U.), S. Hisadomi (Nagoya U.), Y. Ichinohe (Rikkyo U.), K. Kapas (Eotvos U.), L. L. Kiss (Konkoly Observatory), T. Mizuno (Hiroshima U.), K. Nakazawa (Nagoya U.), H. Odaka (Univ of Tokyo), J. Takatsy (Eotvos U.), K. Torigoe (Hiroshima U.), N. Kogiso, M. Yoneyama (Osaka Metropolitan U.), M. Moritaki (U. Tokyo), T. Kano (U. Michigan) -- the GRBAlpha collaboration.
The long-duration GRB 250404A / EP250404a (Fermi/GBM detection: GCN 40050; EP/WXT detection: GCN 40051; Wind/Konus detection: GCN 40087) was observed by the GRBAlpha 1U CubeSat (Pal et al. 2023, A&A, 677, 40; https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023A%26A...677A..40P/abstract).
The detection was confirmed at the peak time 2025-04-04 14:20:37.4 UTC. The T90 duration measured by GRBAlpha is 67 s and the overall significance during T90 reaches 19 sigma.
The light curve obtained by GRBAlpha is available here: https://grbalpha.konkoly.hu/static/share/GRB250404A_GCN.pdf
All GRBAlpha detections are listed at: https://monoceros.physics.muni.cz/hea/GRBAlpha/
GRBAlpha, launched on 2021 March 22, is a demonstration mission for a future CubeSat constellation (Werner et al. Proc. SPIE 2018). The detector of GRBAlpha consists of a 75 x 75 x 5 mm3 CsI scintillator read out by a SiPM array, covering the energy range from ~50 keV to ~1000 keV. To increase the duty cycle and the downlink rate, the upgrade of the on-board data acquisition software stack is in progress. The ground segment is also supported by the radio amateur community and it takes advantage of the SatNOGS network for increased data downlink volume.
GCN Circular 40141
Subject
EP250404a: Nanshan 0.43m Telescope optical observatios
Date
2025-04-13T13:41:02Z (4 months ago)
From
Abdusamatjan Iskandar at XAO,CAS <abudu@xao.ac.cn>
Via
Web form
S. Yaqup, J.Z. Liu, A. Iskandar, Y. Zhang, A. Esamdin, C.H. Bai, T.H. Zhong (XAO) report on behalf of optical group of the XAO:
We observed the field of the EP250404a (Einstein Probe mission, Trigger ID 01709133918) with the 0.43m telescope at Nanshan Station of Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory (XAO). The observations were started at 2025-04-04T14:54:21(UTC), and obtained a series of gri band images.
The optical afterglow (Jiang et al., GCN 40052; Perez-Garcia et al., GCN 40053; Du et al., GCN 40058;
Zhu et al., GCN 40061; Konno et al., GCN 40063; Odeh et al, GCN 40064; He et al., GCN 40069;
Perez-Fournon et al., GCN 40071; Jelinek et al., GCN 40072; Rakotondrainibe et al, GCN 40073;
Taguchi et al., GCN 40074; Ruocco et al., GCN 40076; Martin-Carrillo et al., GCN 40080; Pavoni et al.,
GCN 40083; Li et al., GCN 40084; Yin et al., GCN 40085; Pankov et al., GCN 40086; Chu Chen et al.,
GCN 40088 and Chen et al., GCN 40089) was clearly detected at position R.A. = 125.0606 deg, DEC = 35.5282 deg J2000.
The preliminary photometric magnitudes are below:
Observation Start-Time T-T0(hr) Exposure Filter Mag. Err.
2025-04-04 14:54:21 0.583 060s g 16.914 0.106
2025-04-04 14:55:56 0.604 060s r 16.067 0.076
2025-04-04 14:57:12 0.626 060s i 15.610 0.080
2025-04-04 14:58:29 0.648 060s g 17.090 0.108
2025-04-04 14:59:48 0.669 060s r 16.294 0.072
2025-04-04 15:01:05 0.690 060s i 15.940 0.105
2025-04-04 15:02:22 0.712 060s g 17.484 0.108
2025-04-04 15:03:41 0.734 060s r 16.398 0.071
2025-04-04 15:04:58 0.755 060s i 15.965 0.099
2025-04-04 15:11:08 0.858 120s i 16.388 0.067
2025-04-04 15:13:25 0.897 120s g 17.690 0.106
2025-04-04 15:15:44 0.934 120s r 17.066 0.077
2025-04-04 15:18:01 0.972 120s i 16.496 0.074
2025-04-04 15:20:19 1.011 120s g 17.735 0.096
2025-04-04 15:22:38 1.049 120s r 17.030 0.059
2025-04-04 15:24:54 1.087 120s i 16.736 0.061
2025-04-04 15:27:12 1.126 120s g 18.184 0.105
2025-04-04 15:29:31 1.164 120s r 17.407 0.070
2025-04-04 15:31:48 1.202 120s i 17.033 0.067
2025-04-04 15:34:27 1.247 200s g 18.252 0.090
2025-04-04 15:52:56 1.554 200s r 17.719 0.085
2025-04-04 15:56:33 1.615 200s i 17.332 0.088
2025-04-05 16:00:10 1.676 200s g 18.508 0.116
2025-04-05 16:03:50 1.736 200s r 18.121 0.087
2025-04-05 16:07:27 1.796 200s i 17.742 0.101
2025-04-05 16:11:04 1.857 200s g 18.335 0.093
2025-04-05 16:14:43 1.917 200s r 17.924 0.070
2025-04-05 16:18:19 1.978 200s i 17.569 0.090
2025-04-05 16:25:36 2.099 200s r 18.261 0.081
2025-04-05 16:36:30 2.280 200s r 18.681 0.117
2025-04-05 16:40:06 2.341 200s i 18.319 0.136
2025-04-05 16:43:45 2.402 200s g 18.815 0.129
2025-04-05 16:47:42 2.467 300s g 18.713 0.123
2025-04-05 16:52:59 2.555 300s r 18.799 0.132
2025-04-05 16:58:16 2.643 300s i 17.798 0.094
2025-04-05 17:03:34 2.732 300s g 19.368 0.188
2025-04-05 17:08:52 2.820 300s r 18.608 0.111
The photometric calibration was performed using nearby stars from the PanSTARRS catalog and the magnitudes are not corrected for Galactic extinction.
GCN Circular 40097
Subject
EP250404a: Multi-band Optical Observations from UCAS-70 and XL-C14
Date
2025-04-06T19:33:24Z (5 months ago)
Edited On
2025-04-07T13:44:45Z (5 months ago)
From
qiang xi <xiqiang051@gmail.com>
Edited By
Judith Racusin at NASA/GSFC <judith.racusin@nasa.gov> on behalf of qiang xi <xiqiang051@gmail.com>
Via
Web form
Qiang-Xi (UCAS), Yiming-Mao (NAOC), Xinxiang-Sun (NAOC), Ningchen-Sun (NAOC), Junjie-Jin (NAOC), Min-He (NAOC) report:
We detected an optical counterpart for the field of EP 250404A using two independent facilities: the 70 cm telescope UCAS-70 and the 35 cm telescope XL-C14. The optical counterpart was observed at the coordinates:
**RA = 08h20m14.54s, Dec = +35°31′42.2″.**
Stacked imaging of the field has revealed a clear optical transient. The photometric measurements derived from the stacked images are summarized below. In our analysis, the photometry in the Johnson band was calibrated from APASS data converted using the Lupton (2005) equations, while the SDSS band data were calibrated against the SDSS star catalog. The observation time reported corresponds to the median of the individual exposure times.
| Median Time (UT) | Telescope | Exposure (s) | Filter | Magnitude | Err |
| ----------------------- | --------- | ------------ | ------ | ---------------- | ---- |
| 2025-04-04 15:42:35.500 | UCAS-70 | 6×180 | B | 18.73 | 0.24 |
| 2025-04-04 15:45:44.199 | UCAS-70 | 6×180 | V | 17.89 | 0.12 |
| 2025-04-04 15:48:52.780 | UCAS-70 | 6×180 | R | 17.18 | 0.14 |
| 2025-04-04 15:52:01.952 | UCAS-70 | 6×180 | I | 16.76 | 0.13 |
| 2025-04-04 16:04:43.721 | XL-C14 | 11×120 | g | >18.71( 3-sigma limit) | |
| 2025-04-04 16:17:19.682 | XL-C14 | 13×120 | r | 17.59 | 0.19 |
| 2025-04-04 16:15:12.716 | XL-C14 | 13×120 | i | 17.15 | 0.20 |
| 2025-04-04 15:58:22.729 | XL-C14 | 8×120 | z | >17.41( 3-sigma limit) | |
This measurement has not been corrected for galaxy extinction.
Our observations are consistent with other already reported Jiang et al. (GCN 40052), Perez-Garcia et al. (GCN 40053), Du et al. (GCN 40058), Zhu et al. (GCN 40061), Konno et al. (GCN 40063), Odeh et al. (GCN 40064), Lipunov et al. (GCN 40066), Min-He et al. (GCN 40069), Lipunov et al. (GCN 40070), Perez-Fournon et al. (GCN 40071), Jelinek et al. (GCN 40072), Rakotondrainibe et al. (GCN 40073), Taguchi et al. (GCN 40074), Brivio et al. (GCN 40075), Ruocco (GCN 40076), Martin-Carrillo et al. (GCN 40080), Pavoni et al. (GCN 40083), Li et al. (GCN 40084), Yin et al. (GCN 40085), Pankov et al. (GCN 40086), Chen et al. (GCN 40088), Chen et al. (GCN 40089), Pankov et al. (GCN 40090), Leonini et al. (GCN 40093), Leonini et al(GCN40095).
GCN Circular 40095
Subject
GRB 250404A: Calapai Observatory, Massa S. Giorgio (Messina), optical observations.
Date
2025-04-06T17:44:24Z (5 months ago)
From
Giovanni Calapai at Calapai Astronomical Observatory, Massa S. Giorgio, Messina, Italy <giovannicalapai@tiscali.it>
Via
Web form
Giovanni Calapai at Calapai Astronomical Observatory, Massa S. Giorgio, (Messina) Italy
Member of: GRB/UAI Gamma Ray Burst Section of Unione Astrofili Italiani.
Report:
We observed the field of GRB 250404A detected by Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM team, GCN 40050) with the 11 inches Schmidt-Cassegrain (Celestron 11) telescope F/D=6,3.
The observations were started at 2025-04-04 22:45 UT (approximately 8.42 hours after burst) stacking a set of unfiltered CCD image. The observations were made with modest visibility conditions: passing clouds and Moon (illumin. 48%, dist. 19°)
The OT was detected at the following position (+/- 0.3 arcsec):
RA (J2000.0) 08h 20m 14.59s
Decl. (J2000.0) +35° 31' 41.5"
Photometry was obtained using nearby PanSTARRS stars as follows:
Observation Mid-Time T-T0 (hr) Exposure Filter Mag. Err.
2025-04-04 23:27:00 UT 9.12 82x60s CR 20.16 +/-0.2
Magnitude was calibrated with the nearby PanSTARRS stars converted using Lupton (2005) equations.
No correction for galactic dust extinction was applied.
Our observations are consistent with other already reported Jiang et al. (GCN 40052), Perez-Garcia et al. (GCN 40053), Du et al. (GCN 40058), Zhu et al. (GCN 40061), Konno et al. (GCN 40063), Odeh et al. (GCN 40064), Lipunov et al. (GCN 40066), Min-He et al. (GCN 40069), Lipunov et al. (GCN 40070), Perez-Fournon et al. (GCN 40071), Jelinek et al. (GCN 40072), Rakotondrainibe et al. (GCN 40073), Taguchi et al. (GCN 40074), Brivio et al. (GCN 40075), Ruocco (GCN 40076), Martin-Carrillo et al. (GCN 40080), Pavoni et al. (GCN 40083), Li et al. (GCN 40084), Yin et al. (GCN 40085), Pankov et al. (GCN 40086), Chen et al. (GCN 40088), Chen et al. (GCN 40089), Pankov et al. (GCN 40090), Leonini et al. (GCN 40093).
The message may be cited.
GCN Circular 40093
Subject
EP250404a / GRB 250404A: Montarrenti Observatory optical observations
Date
2025-04-06T13:49:11Z (5 months ago)
From
Simone Leonini at Montarrenti Observatory (Siena, Italy) <s.leonini@iol.it>
Via
Web form
S. Leonini, A. Lorini, M. Conti, P. Rosi, L.M. Tinjaca Ramirez (Montarrenti Observatory, Siena, Italy, part of UAI/SSV-GRB section), M.G. Dainotti (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), Y. Niino (Tokyo University, Institute of Astronomy) and K. Kalinowski (Aarhus University, Department of Physics and Astronomy) report:
we observed the field of the X-ray transient EP250404a (Einstein Probe mission, Trigger ID 01709133918) probably associated with GRB 250404A (Fermi team, GCN 40050) with the automated and remoted 0.53m Ritchey-Chretien telescope at Montarrenti Observatory (Siena, Italy, IAU code C88).
The observations were started at 2025-04-04 18:36:04 UT (approximately 4 hours after burst) ending at 2025-04-04 22:00:50 UT stacking a set of Rc-band CCD images. Observations were performed under thin cloud cover in the second part of the night.
The optical afterglow (Jiang et al., GCN 40052; Perez-Garcia et al., GCN 40053; Du et al., GCN 40058; Zhu et al., GCN 40061; Konno et al., GCN 40063; Odeh et al, GCN 40064; He et al., GCN 40069; Perez-Fournon et al., GCN 40071; Jelinek et al., GCN 40072; Rakotondrainibe et al, GCN 40073; Taguchi et al., GCN 40074; Ruocco et al., GCN 40076; Martin-Carrillo et al., GCN 40080; Pavoni et al., GCN 40083; Li et al., GCN 40084; Yin et al., GCN 40085; Pankov et al., GCN 40086; Chu Chen et al., GCN 40088 and Chen et al., GCN 40089) was clearly detected at the following position:
RA (J2000.0) 08h 20m 14.57s +/-0.06
Decl. (J2000.0) +35° 31' 42.0" +/-0.04
Preliminary photometry was obtained using nearby PanSTARRS stars as follows:
Observation Mid-Time T-T0 (hr) Exposure Filter Mag. Err.
2025-04-04 18:36:24 UT 4.27 50x40s Rc 19.60 +/-0.10
2025-04-04 19:11:30 UT 4.85 50x40s Rc 19.67 +/-0.10
2025-04-04 19:46:31 UT 5.43 50x40s Rc 19.81 +/-0.15
2025-04-04 20:21:33 UT 6.02 54x40s Rc 20.25 +/-0.20
2025-04-04 21:07:10 UT 6.78 78x40s Rc 20.16 +/-0.12
Magnitude was calibrated with the nearby PanSTARRS stars converted using Lupton (2005) equations. No correction for galactic dust extinction was applied.
Along the span of our observations and within our uncertainties, the afterglow evolves in agreement with a power-law decay with a rate alpha ~1.40.
GCN Circular 40090
Subject
GRB 250404A / EP250404a: RC500 INASAN-Kislovodsk optical upper limit
Date
2025-04-06T13:05:06Z (5 months ago)
From
Alexei Pozanenko at IKI, Moscow <grb.alex@gmail.com>
Via
email
N. Pankov (HSE), A.N. Tarasenkov (INASAN), A. Pozanenko (IKI) report on
behalf of IKI GRB-FuN:
We observed GRB 250404A / EP250404a (Fermi GBM team, GCN 40050; Hu et al.,
GCN 40051; Frederiks et al., GCN 40087) with RC500 telescope of the
INASAN-Kislovodsk observatory. The optical counterpart (Jiang et al., GCN
40052; Perez-Garcia et al., GCN 40053; Du et al., GCN 40058; Zhu et al.,
GCN 40061; Konno et al., GCN 40063; Odeh et al., GCN 40064; He et al., GCN
40069; Pérez-Fournon et al., GCN 40071; Jelinek et al., GCN 40072;
Rakotondrainibe et al., GCN 40073; Taguchi et al., GCN 40074; Brivio et
al., GCN 40075; Ruocco et al., GCN 40076; Martin-Carrillo et al., GCN
40080; Pavoni et al., GCN 40083; Li et al., GCN 40084; Yin et al., GCN
40085; Pankov et al., GCN 40086; Chen et al., GCN 40088;) is not detected
starting on 2025-04-04 (UT) 21:10:11. Preliminary upper limit of the
stacked image is the following
Date UT start t-T0 Filter Exp. OT Err. UL(3sigma)
(mid, days) (s)
2025-04-04 21:10:11 0.33362 R 70*120 n/d n/d 20.1
The photometry is based on nearby USNO-B1.0 stars.
GCN Circular 40089
Subject
GRB 250404A / EP250404a: SVOM/GWAC-F60 and F50 observations
Date
2025-04-06T12:27:20Z (5 months ago)
From
Chen Liang-Jun at Guangxi University <chenlj@st.gxu.edu.cn>
Via
Web form
L. J. Chen(GXU), L. P. Xin(NAOC), Y. G. Yang(HNU), X. H. Han, C. WU, Y. L. Qiu, J. Wang, H. L. Li, X .M. Lu, R. S. Zhang, Y. Xu, L. Huang, H. B. Cai, Y. J. Xiao, P. P. Zhang, L. Lan, W. J. Xie, Z. H. Yao, J. Y. Wei(NAOC), X. G. Wang, E. W. Liang(GXU) report on behalf of the SVOM follow-up team:
We observed the field of EP250404a detected by Einstein Probe (Hu et al., GCN 40051), which is temporally and spatially consistent with GRB 250404A (Fermi team, GCN 40050), with the GWAC-F50A and GWAC-F60 at Xinglong Observatory, China. F50 started observing at 2025-04-04T14:25:34 UTC and lasted until 2025-04-04T15:36:36 with 9 frames in R-band and 15 frames in I-band. F60A started observing at 2025-04-04T14:24:56 UTC and lasted until 2025-04-04T15:24:21 with 25 frames in R-band. F60B started observing at 2025-04-04T14:25:05 UTC and lasted until 2025-04-04T15:24:28 with 25 frames in R-band.
The optical counterpart of GRB 250404A / EP250404a (Jiang et al., GCN 40052; Perez-Garcia et al., GCN 40053; Du et al., GCN 40058; Zhu et al., GCN 40061; Konno et al., GCN 40063; Odeh et al., GCN 40064; He et al., GCN 40069; Pérez-Fournon et al., GCN 40071; Jelinek et al., GCN 40072; Rakotondrainibe et al., GCN 40073; Taguchi et al., GCN 40074; Brivio et al., GCN 40075; Ruocco et al., GCN 40076; Martin-Carrillo et al., GCN 40080; Pavoni et al., GCN 40083; Li et al., GCN 40084; Pankov et al., GCN 40086), was clearly detected in our images.
The afterglow shows a first brightening and then a single decay with a peak magnitude of R~14.3 mag, calibrated to the USNO B1.0 catalog, at about 1000 sec after the burst.
Two 60cm GWAC-F60(A/B) are operated by Guangxi University and NAOC, CAS, at Xinglong Observatory, China. The field of view is 19*19 arcmin. The 50cm telescope (F50A) is operated by Huaibei Normal University and NAOC, CAS, at Xinglong Observatory, China. The field of view is 27*27 arcmin.
GCN Circular 40088
Subject
EP250404a / GRB 250404A: J band observations by SYSU 80cm telescope
Date
2025-04-06T12:26:24Z (5 months ago)
From
Chun Chen at Sun Yat-sen University, SYSU 80cm telescope team <chench386@mail2.sysu.edu.cn>
Via
Web form
Chun Chen, Xia Li, Zhong-Nan Dong, Jia-Qi Lin, Wei-Sen Huang, Jin-Ji Li, Pu Lin, Hao-Nan Yang, Yan Yu, Hao-Ran Zhang, Hao-Yuan Zheng, P H Thomas Tam, Rong-Feng Shen, Bin Ma (Sun Yat-sen University) report on behalf of the SYSU 80cm telescope team:
We observed the field of EP250404a detected by Einstein Probe (Hu et al., GCN 40051), which is temporally and spatially consistent with GRB250404A (Fermi GBM team, GCN40050; Fermi GBM team, GCN40067), using the Sun Yat-sen University 80cm infrared telescope with 183 x 20 s exposures in J band. The calculated position is R.A. = 125.0575 deg, DEC = 35.5305 deg J2000, from EP/FXT observation. Our observations began at 2025-4-4 15:25:20 UTC, 1.09 hours after the EP trigger.
We detected a counterpart at the position of the optical afterglow (Jiang et al., GCN 40052; Perez-Garcia et al., GCN 40053; Du et al., GCN 40058; Zhu et al., GCN 40061; Konno et al. GCN 40063; Odeh et al., GCN 40064; Lipunov et al., GCN 40066; He et al., GCN 40069; Perez-Fournon et al., GCN 40071; Jelinek et al., GCN 40072; Rakotondrainibe et al., GCN 40073; Taguchi et al., GCN 40074; Ruocco, GCN 40076; Martin-Carrillo et al., GCN 40080; Pavoni et al., GCN 40083; Li et al., GCN 40084) in the stacked images. The preliminary photometric magnitudes in J band are below:
Start Time (UTC) |Band | Exp | Mag (Vega)
--------------------|-----|-------|------------------
2025/4/4 15:25:20 | J | 200s | 15.30+/-0.08
2025/4/4 15:28:40 | J | 200s | 15.28+/-0.09
2025/4/4 15:32:20 | J | 200s | 15.47+/-0.10
2025/4/4 15:35:40 | J | 200s | 15.76+/-0.11
2025/4/4 15:39:00 | J | 360s | 15.83+/-0.10
2025/4/4 15:50:20 | J | 400s | 16.05+/-0.12
2025/4/4 15:57:00 | J | 400s | 15.99+/-0.12
2025/4/4 16:03:40 | J | 400s | 15.99+/-0.12
2025/4/4 16:10:40 | J | 400s | 16.29+/-0.15
2025/4/4 16:17:40 | J | 1100s | 16.21+/-0.11
The photometric calibration was performed using nearby stars from the 2MASS catalog and the magnitudes are not corrected for Galactic extinction.
GCN Circular 40087
Subject
Konus-Wind detection of GRB 250404A / EP250404a
Date
2025-04-06T12:08:53Z (5 months ago)
From
Dmitry Frederiks at Ioffe Institute <fred@mail.ioffe.ru>
Via
email
D. Frederiks, A.Lysenko, A. Ridnaia, D. Svinkin,
A. Tsvetkova, M. Ulanov, and T. Cline,
on behalf of the Konus-Wind team, report:
The long-duration GRB 250404A (Fermi-GBM detection:
The Fermi GBM team, GCN 40050; Mukherjee & Meegan, GCN 40067),
coincident with the X-ray transient EP250404a (Hu et al., GCN 40051),
triggered Konus-Wind (KW) at T0=51605.773 s UT (14:20:05.773).
The burst light curve shows a multi-peaked structure
which starts at ~T0-21 s and has a total duration of ~105 s.
The emission is seen up to ~1 MeV.
The Konus-Wind light curve of this GRB is available at
http://www.ioffe.ru/LEA/GRBs/GRB250404_T51605/
As observed by Konus-Wind, the burst had
a fluence of (2.83 ± 0.09)x10^-5 erg/cm^2 and
a 64-ms peak energy flux, measured from T0 + 0.832 s,
of (1.78 ± 0.22)x10^-6 erg/cm^2/s (both in the 20 keV - 10 MeV energy range).
The time-integrated spectrum (measured from T0 to T0+81.186 s)
is best fit in the 20 keV - 15 MeV range by a power law with exponential
cutoff (CPL) model: dN/dE ~ (E^alpha)*exp(-E*(2+alpha)/Ep)
with alpha = -1.38(-0.13,+0.14) and Ep = 56(-5,+4) keV (chi2 = 76/98 dof).
Fitting this spectrum by a Band function yields the same values of alpha and Ep,
and an upper limit on the high energy photon index beta of -3.5 (chi2 = 76/97 dof).
The spectrum near the peak count rate(measured from T0 to T0+8.448 s)
is best fit in the 20 keV - 15 MeV range by a CPL
with alpha = -1.16(-0.17,+0.19) and Ep = 68(-9,+8) keV (chi2 = 90/96 dof).
Fitting this spectrum by a Band function yields the same values of alpha and Ep,
and an upper limit on the high energy photon index beta of -4.2 (chi2 = 90/95 dof).
Assuming the redshift z ~ 2.627 ( Li et al., GCN 40084) and a standard cosmology
with H_0 = 67.3 km/s/Mpc, Omega_M = 0.315, and Omega_Lambda = 0.685 (Planck Collaboration, 2014),
we estimate the burst isotropic energy release E_iso to (4.60 ± 0.14)x10^53 erg,
the isotropic peak luminosity L_iso to (1.05 ± 0.13)x10^53 erg/s,
the rest-frame peak energy of the time-integrated spectrum Ep,i,z to (203 ± 18) keV,
and the rest-frame peak energy at the peak of the emission Ep,p,z to (247 ± 30) keV.
With the obtained estimates, GRB 250404A lies at the lower edge, but is consistent
with 90% prediction bands of the 'Amati' and 'Yonetoku' relations
for the sample of >300 long KW GRBs with known redshifts
(Tsvetkova et al., 2017; Tsvetkova et al., 2021),
see http://www.ioffe.ru/LEA/GRBs/GRB250404_T51605/GRB250404A_rest_frame.pdf
All the quoted errors are estimated at the 68% confidence level.
All the presented results are preliminary.
GCN Circular 40086
Subject
GRB 250404A / EP250404a: Mondy optical observations
Date
2025-04-06T11:27:55Z (5 months ago)
From
Alexei Pozanenko at IKI, Moscow <grb.alex@gmail.com>
Via
email
N. Pankov (HSE), E. Klunko (ISTP), A. Pozanenko (IKI) report on behalf of
IKI GRB-FuN:
We observed GRB 250404A / EP250404a (Fermi GBM team, GCN 40050; Hu et al.,
GCN 40051). The optical counterpart (Jiang et al., GCN 40052; Perez-Garcia
et al., GCN 40053; Du et al., GCN 40058; Zhu et al., GCN 40061; Konno et
al., GCN 40063; Odeh et al., GCN 40064; He et al., GCN 40069; Pérez-Fournon
et al., GCN 40071; Jelinek et al., GCN 40072; Rakotondrainibe et al., GCN
40073; Taguchi et al., GCN 40074; Brivio et al., GCN 40075; Ruocco et al.,
GCN 40076; Martin-Carrillo et al., GCN 40080; Pavoni et al., GCN 40083; Li
et al., GCN 40084; Yin et al., GCN 40085) is early detected on 2025-04-04
and was observed between (UT) 14:50:52 and 17:09:01. We obtained an upper
limit on 2025-04-05. Preliminary photometry of some stacked images is the
following
Date UT start t-T0 Filter Exp. OT Err. UL(3sigma)
(mid, days) (s)
2025-04-04 14:50:52 0.04244 R 40*90 16.53 0.02 22.4
2025-04-04 16:01:21 0.08999 R 28*120 17.96 0.03 22.2
2025-04-05 15:08:33 1.05611 R 42*90 n/d n/d 21.5
The photometry is based on nearby USNO-B1.0 stars.
GCN Circular 40085
Subject
EP250404a: refined analysis of the EP-WXT and EP-FXT observations
Date
2025-04-06T09:45:07Z (5 months ago)
Edited On
2025-04-07T13:45:15Z (5 months ago)
From
EP Team at NAOC/CAS <ep_ta@bao.ac.cn>
Edited By
Judith Racusin at NASA/GSFC <judith.racusin@nasa.gov> on behalf of EP Team at NAOC/CAS <ep_ta@bao.ac.cn>
Via
Web form
Y.-H. I. Yin (NJU), J. W. Hu (NAO, CAS), Y. L. Hua (PMO, CAS), Q. C. Liu (THU), B. B. Zhang (BNU), Y. Liu (NAO, CAS) on behalf of the Einstein Probe (EP) team:
The X-ray transient EP250404a was detected by the Wide-field X-ray Telescope (WXT) on board the Einstein Probe (EP) mission (Hu et al., GCN 40051), and followed up by several telescopes (Jiang et al, GCN 40052, Perez-Garcia et al, GCN 40053, Du et al, GCN 40058, Zhu et al, GCN 40061, Konno et al, GCN 40063, Odeh et al, GCN 40064, Lipunov et al, GCN 40066, He et al, GCN 40069, Pérez-Fournon et al, GCN 40071, Jelinek et al, GCN 40072, Rakotondrainibe et al, GCN 40073, Taguchi et al, GCN 40074, Brivio et al, GCN 40075, Ruocco et al, GCN 70076, Martin-Carrillo et al, GCN 40080, Pavoni et al, GCN 40083, Li et al, GCN 40084), with an optical counterpart detected at a redshift of 2.63 (Zhu et al, GCN 40061, Li et al, GCN 40084). Refined analysis of the WXT data shows that the event started at T0=2025-04-04T14:19:45 (UTC) and lasted for about 16 s before the observation was interrupted by the autonomous follow-up observation. The average WXT 0.5-4 keV spectrum can be fitted with an absorbed power law with a photon index of 0.41 (-0.28/+0.26). The absorption is fixed at the best-fit values from FXT spectral fitting with a Galactic hydrogen column density of 6.00 x 10^20 cm^-2 and an intrinsic hydrogen column density of 4.89 x 10^22 cm^-2. The derived average unabsorbed 0.5-4 keV flux is 5.9 (-1.6/+2.2) x 10^(-8) erg/s/cm^2. The data recovered from the slew process shows that the transient event lasted for about 300 seconds.
The Follow-up X-ray Telescope (FXT) on board EP observed this source autonomously about 1 min after T0, starting at 2025-04-04T14:20:46 (UTC). Within the WXT error circle, on-ground analysis of the FXT data found an uncatalogued source at R.A. = 125.0601, DEC = 35.5284 (J2000) with an uncertainty of 10 arcsec (radius, 90% C.L. statistical and systematic), which is also consistent with the position of the optical counterpart. The average 0.5-10 keV spectrum can be fitted with an absorbed power law with a Galactic hydrogen column density of 6.00 x 10^20 cm^-2 and an intrinsic hydrogen column density of 4.89 (-0.45/+0.33) x 10^22 cm^-2. The photon index is 2.18 (-0.03/+0.03). The derived average unabsorbed 0.5-10 keV flux is 9.00 (-0.25/+0.19) x 10^(-10) erg/s/cm^2. The uncertainties are at the 90% confidence level for the above parameters.
Launched on January 9, 2024, EP is a space X-ray observatory to monitor the soft X-ray sky with X-ray follow-up capability (Yuan et al. 2022, Handbook of X-ray and Gamma-ray Astrophysics).
GCN Circular 40084
Subject
GRB 250404A / EP250404a: GMG spectroscopic redshift at z ~ 2.627
Date
2025-04-06T03:57:18Z (5 months ago)
From
Rui-Zhi Li at Yunnan Observatories, CAS <liruizhi@ynao.ac.cn>
Via
Web form
R.-Z. Li, B.-T. Wang, F.-F. Song, J. Mao, H.-C. Feng and J.-M. Bai (YNAO, CAS) report:
GRB 250404A / EP250404a was detected by Fermi GBM (Fermi GBM team, GCN 40050) and by EP/WXT (Hu et al., GCN 40051). We observed the optical counterpart of GRB 250404A / EP250404a (Jiang et al., GCN 40052; Perez-Garcia et al., GCN 40053; Du et al., GCN 40058; Zhu et al., GCN 40061; Konno et al., GCN 40063; Odeh et al., GCN 40064; He et al., GCN 40069; Pérez-Fournon et al., GCN 40071; Jelinek et al., GCN 40072; Rakotondrainibe et al., GCN 40073; Taguchi et al., GCN 40074; Brivio et al., GCN 40075; Ruocco et al., GCN 40076; Martin-Carrillo et al., GCN 40080; Pavoni et al., GCN 40083).
The spectroscopic observation was conducted using the GMG-2.4m telescope with Grism #14, which provides a wavelength coverage of 3600–7460 AA. A single 1800s spectrum was obtained, with exposure beginning at 2025-04-04T15:18:24, about 0.98 hours after the Fermi/GBM and EP/WXT trigger (Fermi GBM team, GCN 40050; Hu et al., GCN 40051).
Two absorption systems were identified in the spectrum.
For the first absorption system, we detected multiple metal absorption features, including Si II at 1527 AA, Al II at 1671 AA, Al III at 1855 AA and 1863 AA, Zn II/Cr II at 2026 AA and 2062 AA, and Fe II at 2344 AA, 2374 AA, and 2383 AA. These features consistently indicate a redshift of z ~ 1.881.
For the second absorption system, the spectrum shows multiple metal absorption lines from Si II/S II at 1260 AA, O I/Si II at 1303 AA, C II at 1335 AA, Si IV at 1394 AA, Si II at 1527 AA, Fe II at 1608 AA, and Al III at 1863 AA. These absorption features correspond to a redshift of z ~ 2.627.
These results support a redshift of z ~ 2.627 for the transient, consistent with the measurement reported by Xinglong-2.16m (Zhu et al., GCN 40061).
We thank the staff at the Lijiang Observatory for their support in conducting the observation.
GCN Circular 40083
Subject
GRB 250404A / EP250404a: Leavitt Observatory optical counterpart detection
Date
2025-04-05T22:56:51Z (5 months ago)
From
leavittob@gmail.com
Via
Web form
E. Pavoni, L. Moretti (Leavitt Observatory, Italy)
Members of:
GRB/UAI - Gamma Ray Burst Section of Unione Astrofili Italiani
ATA - Associazione Tuscolana di Astronomia
In a large collaboration with:
M.G. Dainotti (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan),
Y. Niino (Tokyo University, Institute of Astronomy),
K. Kalinowski (Aarhus University, Department of Physics and Astronomy),
report:
We observed the field of EP250404a detected by Einstein Probe (Hu et al., GCN 40051), which is temporally and spatially consistent with GRB 250404A (Fermi team, GCN 40050), with our RC telescope (D=250 mm, F/D=8) of Leavitt Observatory, Manciano, Italy.
Median moon illumination of 47% was present.
The observations started approximately 5.1 hours after the trigger time, stacking a series of R-Cousins filtered exposures, for a total integration time of approximately 88 minutes. All images were processed using the astropy package (Astropy Collaboration et al., 2022ApJ...935..167A).
We detected the optical counterpart (Jiang et al., GCN 40052; Perez-Garcia et al., GCN 40053; Du et al., GCN 40058; Zhu et al., GCN 40061; Konno et al. GCN 40063; Odeh et al., GCN 40064; Lipunov et al., GCN 40066; He et al., GCN 40069; Perez-Fournon et al., GCN 40071; Jelinek et al., GCN 40072; Rakotondrainibe et al., GCN 40073; Taguchi et al., GCN 40074; Ruocco, GCN 40076; Martin-Carrillo et al., GCN 40080) in the stacked image at the following coordinates +/- 2 arcsec:
R.A. (J2000) = 08:20:14:59
Dec. (J2000) = +35:31:41:75
with the following photometry:
Date UT at mid-exposure: 2025-04-04 20:24:18 UTC
Mag (R Cousins) 19.47
Error +/- 0.2
Magnitudes were estimated with the Pan-STARRS cat. and converted using Lupton (2005) equations. No corrected for galactic dust extinction.
The message may be cited.
Reference:
https://leavittobservatory.altervista.org
GCN Circular 40080
Subject
GRB 250404A / EP250404a: NOT optical observations
Date
2025-04-05T15:27:15Z (5 months ago)
From
Antonio Martin-Carrillo at UCD,Space Science Group <antonio.martin-carrillo@ucd.ie>
Via
Web form
A. Martin-Carrillo (UCD), B. Schneider (LAM), A. de Ugarte Postigo (LAM), D. B. Malesani (DAWN/NBI and Radboud Univ.), J. An (NAOC), D. Xu (NAOC), G. Corcoran (UCD), Dimple (U. Birmingham), M. A. Diaz Teodori (NOT and Turku Univ.), report on behalf of a larger collaboration:
We observed the field of EP250404a (Hu et al., GCN 40051), likely associated with GRB 250404A detected by Fermi/GBM (Fermi GBM team, GCN 40050; Mukherjee & Meegan, GCN 40067) using the ALFOSC camera mounted on the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT). We obtained exposures in the SDSS-r (3x180 s) and SDSS-z (2x180 s) bands, starting at 22:09:17 UT on 2025-04-04 (7.82 hr after the EP trigger).
The optical counterpart reported by Jiang et al. (GCN. 40052), Perez-Garcia et al. (GCN 40053), Du et al. (GCN 40058), Zhu et al. (GCN 40061), Konno et al. (GCN 40063), Odeh et al. (GCN 40064), He et al. (GCN 40069), Pérez-Fournon et al. (GCN 40071), Jelinek et al. (GCN 40072), Rakotondrainibe et al. (GCN 40073), Taguchi et al. (GCN 40074