Swift Observations of GRB 230328B

J.D. Gropp (PSU), A.P. Beardmore (U. Leicester) and M.H. Siegel (PSU) for the Swift team

1. Introduction

At 14:54:48 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 230328B (trigger=1162001) (Gropp et al. GCN Circ. 33527). Swift slewed immediately to the burst. At the time of the trigger, the initial BAT position was 85° from the Sun (5.1 hours West) and 72° from the 46%-illuminated Moon. Table 1 contains the best reported positions from Swift, and the latest XRT position can be viewed at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_positions.

Gropp et al. (GCN Circ. 33527) reported the detection with UVOT of an optical afterglow. Pankov et al. (GCN Circ. 33528) reported the position from Mondy for the optical afterglow of this GRB. Table 2 is a summary of GCN Circulars about this GRB from observatories other than Swift.

Standard analysis products for this burst are available at https://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/swift_gnd_ana.html.

2. BAT Observations and Analysis

Analysis of the BAT data was reported by Markwardt and Barthelmy (GCN Circ. 33541).

The mask weighted light curve (Figure 1) has a double peaked structure.

The light curve (Figure 1) does not show an early afterglow as was stated in the original GCN.

The time-averaged spectrum from T-7.38 to T+25.49 s is best fit by a power law

The results of the batgrbproduct analysis are available at https://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/notices_s/1162001/BA/.

3. XRT Observations and Analysis

Analysis of the initial XRT data was reported by Beardmore et al. (GCN Circ. 33533). We have analysed 59 ks of XRT data for GRB 230328B, from 94 s to 896.1 ks after the BAT trigger. The data comprise 14 s in Windowed Timing (WT) mode (the first 9 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. 33529).

The late-time light curve (Figure 2) (from T0+4.3 ks) can be modelled with an initial power-law decay with an index of α=0.71 (+0.28, -0.44), followed by a break at T+10.0 ks to an α of 1.35 ± 0.04.

A spectrum formed from the PC mode data can be fitted with an absorbed power-law with a photon spectral index of 1.89 ± 0.08. The best-fitting absorption column is 1.40 (+0.24, -0.23) x 1021 cm-2, in excess of the Galactic value of 6.3 x 1020 cm-2 (Willingale et al. 2013). The counts to observed (unabsorbed) 0.3-10 keV flux conversion factor deduced from this spectrum is 3.6 x 10-11 (4.5 x 10-11) erg cm-2 count-1.

A summary of the PC-mode spectrum is thus:
Total column: 1.40 (+0.24, -0.23) x 1021 cm-2
Galactic foreground: 6.3 x 1020 cm-2
Excess significance: 5.5 σ
Photon index: 1.89 ± 0.08

The results of the XRT team automatic analysis are available at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/01162001.

4. UVOT Observations and Analysis

The Swift/UVOT began settled observations of the field of GRB 230328B 114 s after the BAT trigger (Siegel and Gropp GCN Circ. 33556). A source consistent with the XRT position (Osborne et al. GCN Circ. 33529) is detected in the initial UVOT exposures, confirming the initial optical detections (Pankov et al., GCN Circ. 33528; Catapano & Izzo, GCN Circ. 33535; Suresh et al., GCN Circ. 33536; Adami et al., GCN Circ. 33537; Komesh et al., GCN Circ. 33539). Table 3 gives preliminary magnitudes using the UVOT photometric system (Breeveld et al. 2011, AIP Conf. Proc., 1358, 373). No correction has been made for the expected extinction in the Milky Way corresponding to a reddening of EB-V of 0.070 mag. in the direction of the GRB (Schlegel et al. 1998).

BAT light curve

Figure 1. The BAT mask-weighted light curve in the four individual and total energy bands. The units are counts s-1 illuminated-detector-1. The vertical green dash-dotted lines show the T50 interval, the vertical black dashed lines show the T90 interval, and vertical blue (orange) solid lines show the start (stop) of slews.

XRT light curve

Figure 2. The XRT light curve. Any data from a crosshatched region are not included in the fit.

RA (J2000) Dec (J2000) Error Note Reference
19h24m01.88s +80°00'34.6" 0.44" UVOT-refined Siegel and Gropp GCN Circ. 33556
19h24m01.65s +80°00'34.4" 1.9" XRT-final UKSSDC
19h24m01.71s +80°00'34.3" 2.1" XRT-enhanced Osborne et al. GCN Circ. 33529
19h24m08.8s +80°00'45.3" 1.0' BAT-refined Markwardt and Barthelmy GCN Circ. 33541

Table 1. Positions from the Swift instruments.

Band Authors GCN Circ. Subject Observatory Notes
Optical Pankov et al. 33528 Mondy optical afterglow confirmation Mondy detection
Optical Belkin et al. 33530 Mondy, AbAO and Kitab optical
observations
Abastumani Astro. Obs. detection
Optical Lu et al. 33534 Nanshan/NEXT optical upper limit Xinjiang Astro. Obs. upper limits
Optical Catapano and Izzo 33535 OASDG optical observations S.Di Giacomo Obs.
Optical Suresh et al. 33536 GIT optical follow-up GROWTH-India Tel. detection
Optical Adami et al. 33537 OHP/T120 optical observations Obs.de Haute-Provence
Optical Gompertz et al. 33538 Liverpool Telescope afterglow detection Liverpool Telescope detection
Optical Komesh et al. 33539 NUTTelA-TAO / BSTI Early Measurements NUTTelA
Optical Lu et al. 33540 Nanshan/NEXT 2nd optical observation Xinjiang Astro. Obs.
Optical Ror et al. 33547 3.6m DOT multiband optical observation DOT detection
Optical Kugel et al. 33550 GRANDMA/Kilonova-Catcher optical
detection
GRANDMA detection
Optical Pankov et al. 33559 Multa observatory optical afterglow
observation
ISON-Multa detection
Gamma-ray Fermi 33526 Fermi GBM Final Real-time Localization Fermi GBM
Gamma-ray Dalessi and Meegan 33531 Fermi GBM observation Fermi GBM Epeak=169.6±9.9 keV
T90=19 seconds
Fluence=9.4±0.3x10-6erg cm-2
(brighter than 74% of long GRBs)
Gamma-ray Waratkar et al. 33532 AstroSat CZTI detection CZTI
Gamma-ray Dafcikova et al. 33543 GRBAlpha detection GRBAlpha
Gamma-ray Svinkin et al. 33544 Konus-Wind detection Konus-Wind Epeak=151 (-21,+29) keV
Duration=~12 seconds
Fluence=7.12(-0.51,+0.58)x10-6erg cm-2
Other Minaev and Pozanenko 33609 redshift lower limit estimating redshift

Table 2. Summary of GCN Circulars from other observatories sorted by band and then circular number.

Filter Tstart(s) Tstop(s) Exp(s) Mag
white (fc) 114 264 147 18.38 ± 0.05
White 5537 5735 196 20.16 ± 0.14
white 28147 28879 713 21.88 ± 0.32
v 655 849 39 >17.6
b 582 774 39 >18.3
u (fc) 326 576 246 19.20 ± 0.16
w1 705 725 19 >18.5
w2 805 825 19 >18.0

Table 3. UVOT observations reported by Siegel and Gropp (GCN Circ. 33556). The start and stop times of the exposures are given in seconds since the BAT trigger. The preliminary detections and 3-σ upper limits are given. No correction has been made for extinction in the Milky Way.

July 5, 2023