TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39959
SUBJECT: GRB 250331C: Swift detection of a burst
DATE: 25/03/31 04:55:40 GMT
FROM: David Palmer at LANL <palmer(a)lanl.gov>
S. B. Cenko (GSFC), C. Gronwall (PSU), K. L. Page (U Leicester),
D. M. Palmer (LANL) and M. H. Siegel (PSU) report on behalf of the
Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Team:
At 04:37:40 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 250331C (trigger=1299967). Swift slewed immediately to the burst.
The BAT on-board calculated location is
RA, Dec 80.993, +33.029 which is
RA(J2000) = 05h 23m 58s
Dec(J2000) = +33d 01' 43"
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including
systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve showed a complex
structure with a duration of about 25 sec. The peak count rate
was ~800 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~1 sec after the trigger.
The XRT began observing the field at 04:39:51.5 UT, 130.9 seconds after
the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find a bright,
uncatalogued X-ray source located at RA, Dec 80.95740, 33.06310 which
is equivalent to:
RA(J2000) = 05h 23m 49.78s
Dec(J2000) = +33d 03' 47.2"
with an uncertainty of 3.7 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This
location is 163 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
https://www.swift.ac.uk/sper.
A power-law fit to a spectrum formed from promptly downlinked event
data gives a column density consistent with the Galactic value of 6.49
x 10^21 cm^-2 (Willingale et al. 2013).
The initial flux in the 2.5 s image was 1.04e-09 erg cm^-2 s^-1 (0.2-10
keV).
UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter
starting 139 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 none of
the XRT error circle. 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 large, but
uncertain, extinction expected.
Burst Advocate for this burst is S. B. Cenko (brad.cenko 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/)
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39959.
---
To unsubscribe, open this link in a web browser:
https://gcn.nasa.gov/unsubscribe/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJlbWFpbCI6InZzbmV0L…
TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39958
SUBJECT: GRB 250331B: Swift detection of a burst
DATE: 25/03/31 04:47:31 GMT
FROM: David Palmer at LANL <palmer(a)lanl.gov>
S. B. Cenko (GSFC), C. Gronwall (PSU), R. Gupta (NASA GSFC),
K. L. Page (U Leicester), D. M. Palmer (LANL) and M. H. Siegel (PSU)
report on behalf of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Team:
At 04:19:43 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and
located GRB 250331B (trigger=1299965). Swift slewed to the burst
after a brief delay to clear an observing constraint.
The BAT on-board calculated location is
RA, Dec 71.381, +43.805 which is
RA(J2000) = 04h 45m 31s
Dec(J2000) = +43d 48' 17"
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including
systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve showed a single-peak
structure with a duration of about 8 sec. The peak count rate
was ~1400 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~2 sec after the trigger.
The XRT began observing the field at 04:24:57.3 UT, 313.9 seconds after
the BAT trigger. Using promptly downlinked data we find an uncatalogued
X-ray source with an enhanced position: RA, Dec 71.37364, 43.81080
which is equivalent to:
RA(J2000) = 04h 45m 29.67s
Dec(J2000) = +43d 48' 38.9"
with an uncertainty of 1.9 arcseconds (radius, 90% containment). This
location is 28 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 https://www.swift.ac.uk/sper. We
cannot determine whether the source is fading at the present time.
A power-law fit to a spectrum formed from promptly downlinked event
data does not constrain the column density.
UVOT took a finding chart exposure of 150 seconds with the White filter
starting 317 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 large, but uncertain, extinction expected.
Burst Advocate for this burst is S. B. Cenko (brad.cenko 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/)
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39958.
---
To unsubscribe, open this link in a web browser:
https://gcn.nasa.gov/unsubscribe/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJlbWFpbCI6InZzbmV0L…
TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39957
SUBJECT: GRB 250330A: SVOM/VT optical upper limit
DATE: 25/03/31 04:35:08 GMT
FROM: SVOM_group <svomgroup(a)bao.ac.cn>
Z.M. Wang, A. Li (BNU), L.P. Xin, H.L. Li, Y. L. Qiu, C. Wu, Z.H. Yao, Y. Xu, P.P. Zhang, J. Wang, Y.N. Ma, X.H. Han, H.B. Cai, J.Y. Wei(NAOC) report on behalf of the SVOM/VT team:
SVOM performed two Target of Opportunity observations of GRB 250330A (Cenko et al., GCN 39938; Pathak, GCN 39944; Osborne et al., GCN 39947) in the VT_B (400nm-650nm) and VT_R (650nm-1000nm) channels simultaneously, starting at 2025-03-30T09:17:44 UT, and 2025-03-30T12:40:58 UT, respectively.
No sources were detected in the stacked images within the XRT source position (Page, GCN 39940).
The 3 sigma limits in VT_R is 21.7 mag (AB) with the exposure time of 3 x 100s at the medium time of 3.2 hours after the Swift BAT trigger, and 23.0 mag with the exposure of 12*120s, at the medium time of 6.8 hours after the burst.
This result is consistent with the reports (Becerra, GCN 39941; Siegel et al., GCN 39948; Perez-Garcia et al., GCN 39949; Lipunov et al., GCN 39950).
The Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) is a China-France joint mission led by the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA, China), National Center for Space Studies (CNES, France) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS, China), which is dedicated to observing gamma-ray bursts and other transient phenomena in the energetic universe. VT was jointly developed by Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics (XIOPM), CAS and National astronomical observatories (NAOC),CAS.
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39957.
---
To unsubscribe, open this link in a web browser:
https://gcn.nasa.gov/unsubscribe/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJlbWFpbCI6InZzbmV0L…
TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39956
SUBJECT: GRB 250331A: MAXI/GSC detection
DATE: 25/03/31 03:44:29 GMT
FROM: Yuta Kawakubo at Aoyama Gakuin University <kawakubo(a)phys.aoyama.ac.jp>
K. Takagi, M. Nakajima (Nihon U.), Y. Kawakubo, M. Serino (AGU),
H. Negoro, Y. Kudo, H. Shibui, H. Takahashi, K. Tatano, H. Nishio (Nihon U.),
T. Mihara, S. Yamada, T. Tamagawa, N. Kawai, M. Matsuoka (RIKEN),
T. Sakamoto, S. Sugita, H. Hiramatsu, H. Nishikawa, Y. Kondo, S. Sasao, A. Yoshida (AGU),
Y. Tsuboi, H. Sugai, N. Nagashima (Chuo U.),
M. Shidatsu, Y. Niida, C. Kang, T. Nakamoto (Ehime U.),
I. Takahashi, M. Niwano, N. Higuchi, Y. Yatsu (Tokyo Tech),
S. Nakahira, S. Ueno, H. Tomida, M. Ishikawa, S. Ogawa, M. Kurihara (JAXA),
Y. Ueda, Y. Okada, K. Fujiwara (Kyoto U.),
M. Yamauchi, Y. Otsuki, T. Hasegawa, M. Nishio (Miyazaki U.),
K. Yamaoka (Nagoya U.),
M. Sugizaki (Kanazawa U.),
W. Iwakiri (Chiba U.),
T. Kawamuro (Osaka U.)
report on behalf of the MAXI team:
The MAXI/GSC nova alert system triggered a bright uncatalogued X-ray transient
source at 01:40:54 UT on March 31, 2025. Assuming that the source flux was constant
over the transit, we obtain the source position at
(R.A., Dec) = (124.987 deg, -18.636 deg) = (08 19 56, -18 38 09) (J2000)
with a statistical 90% C.L. elliptical error region with long and short radii of 0.25 deg
and 0.2 deg, respectively.
The roll angle of long axis from the north direction is 168.0 deg counterclockwise.
There is an additional systematic uncertainty of 0.1 deg (90% containment radius).
The X-ray flux averaged over the scan was 146 +- 23 mCrab
(4.0-10.0keV, 1 sigma error).
Without assumptions on the source constancy, we obtain a rectangular error
box for the transient source with the following corners:
(124.498, -17.690) deg = (08 17 59, -17 41 24) (J2000)
(124.178, -17.935) deg = (08 16 42, -17 56 05) (J2000)
(125.521, -19.513) deg = (08 22 05, -19 30 46) (J2000)
(125.843, -19.266) deg = (08 23 22, -19 15 57) (J2000)
There was no significant excess flux in the previous transit at 0:08 UT
and in the next transit at 03:14 UT with an upper limit of 20 mCrab for each.
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39956.
---
To unsubscribe, open this link in a web browser:
https://gcn.nasa.gov/unsubscribe/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJlbWFpbCI6InZzbmV0L…
TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39955
SUBJECT: SVOM/sb25033102: SVOM detection of an X-ray transient
DATE: 25/03/31 03:40:23 GMT
FROM: SVOM_group <svomgroup(a)bao.ac.cn>
Yinuo MA, Chao WU, Donghua ZHAO, Wenjin XIE (NAOC), Hatsune GOTO (CEA, Kanazawa Univ) on behalf of the SVOM mission team.
At 2025-03-31T02:04:18 UTC (Tb) SVOM/ECLAIRs triggered on the X-ray transient labelled sb25033102 (SVOM burst-id sb25033102). The following trigger information was received on the ground with low latency by the SVOM VHF Alert Network.
This transient was only detected by the Count-Rate Trigger (CRT), which produced a sequence of 1 alerts. CRT provided the alert with the best signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) of 15.10 in the [8-120] keV energy band over a time window of 20.48 seconds starting at Tb.
The localization of the best alert is R.A., Dec 289.235, -18.527 degrees:
RA (J2000) = 19h16m56.51s
Dec (J2000) = -18d31m37.10s
with a 90% C.L. radius of 5.48 arcmin (including systematic error of 2 arcmin added in quadrature).
We notice that this transient also triggered SVOM/ECLAIRs at the 1.57 hours before, at 2025-03-31T00:29:51.04 (SVOM/sb25033101). Due to an external ToO was performing by SVOM, no immediate slew was performed on this transient.
The Space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) is a China-France joint mission led by the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA), French Space Agency (CNES), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), which is dedicated to observing gamma-ray bursts and other transient phenomena in the energetic universe.
The Burst Advocate (BA) on shift for this burst is Yinuo MA: mayn(a)bao.ac.cn
Please contact the BA by email if you require additional information regarding the SVOM follow-up of this burst.
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39955.
---
To unsubscribe, open this link in a web browser:
https://gcn.nasa.gov/unsubscribe/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJlbWFpbCI6InZzbmV0L…
TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39954
SUBJECT: GRB 250314A: VLA detection
DATE: 25/03/31 02:49:59 GMT
FROM: Tanmoy Laskar at U of Utah <tanmoylaskar(a)gmail.com>
Nayana A. J. (UC Berkeley), T. Laskar (University of Utah), R. Margutti (UC Berkeley), K. D. Alexander (University of Arizona), R. Chornock (UC Berkeley), E. Berger (Harvard University), W. Fong (Northwestern University), P. Schady (University of Bath), and G. Schroeder (Cornell University) report:
"We carried out Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) observations of the high-redshift (z ~ 7.3; Malesani et al., GCN 39732; Rakotondrainibe et al., GCN 39743) SVOM/ECLAIRs GRB 250314A (Wang et al., GCN 39719) beginning on 2025 March 21 06:26 UTC (6.7 days after the burst) at multiple frequencies. In preliminary analysis, we detect a radio counterpart with a flux density of ~ 0.1 mJy at 17 GHz, and position:
RA (J2000) = 13:25:12.16
Dec (J2000) = -05:16:55.07
with a (statistical) uncertainty of 0.6" in each coordinate. This position is consistent with the optical position (Malesani et al., GCN 39727). Further observations are planned.
We thank the VLA staff for scheduling and executing these observations"
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39954.
---
To unsubscribe, open this link in a web browser:
https://gcn.nasa.gov/unsubscribe/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJlbWFpbCI6InZzbmV0L…
TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER: 39953
SUBJECT: LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA S250331o: Identification of a GW compact binary merger candidate
DATE: 25/03/31 02:06:54 GMT
FROM: Gyoik Kim at Yonsei University <gyoik_kim(a)yonsei.ac.kr>
The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the Virgo Collaboration, and the KAGRA Collaboration report:
We identified the compact binary merger candidate S250331o during real-time processing of data from LIGO Hanford Observatory (H1), LIGO Livingston Observatory (L1), and Virgo Observatory (V1) at 2025-03-31 01:34:48.438 UTC (GPS time: 1427420106.438). The candidate was found by the cWB [1], cWB BBH [2], GstLAL [3], PyCBC Live [4], and SPIIR [5] analysis pipelines.
S250331o is an event of interest because its false alarm rate, as estimated by the online analysis, is 3.2e-10 Hz, or about one in 1e2 years. The event's properties can be found at this URL:
https://gracedb.ligo.org/superevents/S250331o
After parameter estimation by RapidPE-RIFT [6], the classification of the GW signal, in order of descending probability, is BBH (>99%), Terrestrial (<1%), NSBH (<1%), or BNS (<1%).
Assuming the candidate is astrophysical in origin, the probability that at least one of the compact objects is consistent with a neutron star mass (HasNS) is <1%. [7] Using the masses and spins inferred from the signal, the probability of matter outside the final compact object (HasRemnant) is <1%. [7] Both HasNS and HasRemnant consider the support of several neutron star equations of state for maximum neutron star mass. The probability that either of the binary components lies between 3 and 5 solar masses (HasMassGap) is <1%.
Two sky maps are available at this time and can be retrieved from the GraceDB event page:
* bayestar.multiorder.fits,0, an initial localization generated by BAYESTAR [8], distributed via GCN notice about 23 seconds after the candidate event time.
* bayestar.multiorder.fits,1, an initial localization generated by BAYESTAR [8], distributed via GCN notice about 5 minutes after the candidate event time.
The preferred sky map at this time is bayestar.multiorder.fits,1. For the bayestar.multiorder.fits,1 sky map, the 90% credible region is well fit by an ellipse with an area of 27 deg2 described by the following DS9 region (right ascension, declination, semi-major axis, semi-minor axis, position angle of the semi-minor axis):
icrs; ellipse(02h07m, +31d24m, 4.57d, 1.87d, 116.86d)
Marginalized over the whole sky, the a posteriori luminosity distance estimate is 582 +/- 120 Mpc (a posteriori mean +/- standard deviation).
For further information about analysis methodology and the contents of this alert, refer to the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA Public Alerts User Guide https://emfollow.docs.ligo.org/.
[1] Klimenko et al. PRD 93, 042004 (2016) doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.93.042004
[2] T. Mishra et al. PRD 105, 083018 (2022) doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.105.083018
[3] Tsukada et al. PRD 108, 043004 (2023) doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.108.043004 and Ewing et al. PRD 109, 042008 (2024) doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.109.042008
[4] Dal Canton et al. ApJ 923, 254 (2021) doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac2f9a
[5] Chu et al. PRD 105, 024023 (2022) doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.105.024023
[6] Rose et al. (2022) arXiv:2201.05263 and Pankow et al. PRD 92, 023002 (2015) doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.92.023002
[7] Chatterjee et al. ApJ 896, 54 (2020) doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab8dbe
[8] Singer & Price PRD 93, 024013 (2016) doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.93.024013
View this GCN Circular online at https://gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/39953.
---
To unsubscribe, open this link in a web browser:
https://gcn.nasa.gov/unsubscribe/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJlbWFpbCI6InZzbmV0L…