[vsnet-grb-info 25489] GRB 200411A: Chandra observations indicative of temporal steepening

[GCN Circulars]

TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  27589
SUBJECT: GRB 200411A: Chandra observations indicative of temporal steepening
DATE:    20/04/15 21:20:48 GMT
FROM:    Wen-fai Fong at Northwestern U  <wfong at northwestern.edu>

A. Rouco Escorial, W. Fong (Northwestern), and E. Berger (Harvard) report:

“We initiated observations with the Chandra X-ray Observatory of the position of the short-duration GRB 200411A (Fermi-GBM et al., GCN 27535; Tohuvavohu et al., GCN 27536; Bissaldi et al., GCN 27543) starting on 2020 April 15 00:16:54 UT, or at a mid-time of 3.95 days after the GRB trigger. ACIS-S observations were taken under Proposal 21500089 (ObsID 22427; PI: Berger), with a total exposure time of 19.8 ksec.
 
We do not detect an X-ray source within or around the enhanced Swift-XRT position (90% confidence; Osborne et al., GCN 27538). Centered on the XRT position, we calculate a 3-sigma limit of <4.5e-4 cts/s in the 0.5-8 keV energy range following the method described by Gehrels (1986) for small numbers of events. Applying the best-fit PC mode XRT spectral parameters (Gamma=1.7, intrinsic NH=1.5e21 cm^-2) and fixing the Galactic NH=1.55e20 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013), we calculate a 3-sigma unabsorbed flux limit of FX<8.4e-15 erg/s/cm^2 in the 0.3-10 keV energy range. 
 
The XRT afterglow starting from 200 sec post-burst exhibits a power-law decline with decay index alpha=-0.84 (+/- 0.2) (where FX~t^alpha), while the Chandra upper limit indicates a potential steepening to alpha<-1.3. If this steepening is interpreted as a jet break at ~0.5-2 days post-burst, using median values for the explosion properties and redshift based on properties of short GRBs gives an opening angle of ~4-7 degrees.
 
We thank the Chandra staff for the rapid planning and scheduling of these observations.”