Gamma-ray Burst 071129

(All information courtesy of the instrument teams.)

Previous IAU Circulars

none

Results of Observations

GCN/BACODINE POSITION NOTICE

TITLE:           GCN/SWIFT NOTICE
NOTICE_DATE:     Thu 29 Nov 07 00:04:32 UT
NOTICE_TYPE:     Swift-BAT GRB Position
TRIGGER_NUM:     297628,   Seg_Num: 0
GRB_RA:          220.090d {+14h 40m 22s} (J2000),
                 220.205d {+14h 40m 49s} (current),
                 219.360d {+14h 37m 26s} (1950)
GRB_DEC:         -26.659d {-26d 39' 31"} (J2000),
                 -26.693d {-26d 41' 33"} (current),
                 -26.445d {-26d 26' 41"} (1950)
GRB_ERROR:       3.00 [arcmin radius, statistical only]
GRB_INTEN:       18840 [cnts]    Image_Peak=572 [image_cnts]
TRIGGER_DUR:     4.096 [sec] 
TRIGGER_INDEX:   300     E_range: 25-100 keV
BKG_INTEN:       158884 [cnts]
BKG_TIME:        181.60 SOD {00:03:01.60} UT
BKG_DUR:         40 [sec]
GRB_DATE:        14433 TJD;   333 DOY;   07/11/29
GRB_TIME:        235.30 SOD {00:03:55.30} UT
GRB_PHI:         -109.56 [deg]
GRB_THETA:        28.19 [deg]
SOLN_STATUS:     0x3
RATE_SIGNIF:     11.53 [sigma]
IMAGE_SIGNIF:    11.85 [sigma]
MERIT_PARAMS:     +1  +0  +0  +3  +2  +5 -100  +0 -92  +1 
SUN_POSTN:       244.51d {+16h 18m 02s}  -21.37d {-21d 22' 16"}
SUN_DIST:         22.79 [deg]   Sun_angle= 1.6 [hr] (West of Sun)
MOON_POSTN:      128.96d {+08h 35m 51s}  +20.99d {+20d 59' 07"}
MOON_DIST:       100.31 [deg]
MOON_ILLUM:      75 [%]
GAL_COORDS:      331.16, 30.17 [deg] galactic lon,lat of the burst (or transient)
ECL_COORDS:      225.94,-10.53 [deg] ecliptic lon,lat of the burst (or transient)
COMMENTS:        SWIFT-BAT GRB Coordinates.  
COMMENTS:        This is a rate trigger.  
COMMENTS:        A point_source was found.  
COMMENTS:        This does not match any source in the on-board catalog.  
COMMENTS:        This does not match any source in the ground catalog.  
COMMENTS:        This is a GRB.  
COMMENTS:        This trigger occurred at longitude,latitude = 108.37,15.48 [deg].

red DSS finding chart ps-file

GCN NOTICE

TITLE:           GCN/SWIFT NOTICE
NOTICE_DATE:     Thu 29 Nov 07 00:07:36 UT
NOTICE_TYPE:     Swift-BAT GRB Lightcurve
TRIGGER_NUM:     297628,   Seg_Num: 0
GRB_RA:          220.090d {+14h 40m 22s} (J2000),
                 220.205d {+14h 40m 49s} (current),
                 219.360d {+14h 37m 26s} (1950)
GRB_DEC:         -26.659d {-26d 39' 31"} (J2000),
                 -26.693d {-26d 41' 33"} (current),
                 -26.445d {-26d 26' 41"} (1950)
GRB_DATE:        14433 TJD;   333 DOY;   07/11/29
GRB_TIME:        235.30 SOD {00:03:55.30} UT
TRIGGER_INDEX:   300
GRB_PHI:         -109.56 [deg]
GRB_THETA:        28.19 [deg]
DELTA_TIME:      71.00 [sec]
TRIGGER_DUR:     4.096 [sec] 
SOLN_STATUS:     0x3
RATE_SIGNIF:     11.53 [sigma]
IMAGE_SIGNIF:    11.85 [sigma]
LC_URL:          sw00297628000msb.lc
SUN_POSTN:       244.51d {+16h 18m 03s}  -21.37d {-21d 22' 17"}
SUN_DIST:         22.79 [deg]   Sun_angle= 1.6 [hr] (West of Sun)
MOON_POSTN:      128.99d {+08h 35m 58s}  +20.98d {+20d 58' 33"}
MOON_DIST:       100.28 [deg]
MOON_ILLUM:      75 [%]
GAL_COORDS:      331.16, 30.17 [deg] galactic lon,lat of the burst (or transient)
ECL_COORDS:      225.94,-10.53 [deg] ecliptic lon,lat of the burst (or transient)
COMMENTS:        SWIFT-BAT GRB Lightcurve.  
COMMENTS:           
COMMENTS:        The next comments were copied from the BAT_POS Notice:  
COMMENTS:        This is a rate trigger.  
COMMENTS:        A point_source was found.  
COMMENTS:        This does not match any source in the on-board catalog.  
COMMENTS:        This does not match any source in the ground catalog.  
COMMENTS:        This is a GRB.  
COMMENTS:        This trigger occurred at longitude,latitude = 108.37,15.48 [deg].

GCN Circular #7138
C. Pagani (PSU), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), W. H. Baumgartner (GSFC/UMBC), F. E. Marshall (NASA/GSFC), J. L. Racusin (PSU), G. Sato (GSFC/ISAS), M. Stamatikos (NASA/ORAU), T. N. Ukwatta (GSFC/GWU) and L. Vetere (PSU) report on behalf of the Swift Team:
At 00:03:55 UT, the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) triggered and located GRB 071129 (trigger=297628). Swift did not slew to this burst because of the Sun observing constraint (23deg is less than 45 deg). The BAT on-board calculated location is RA, Dec 220.090, -26.659, which is
```
   RA(J2000)  =  14h 40m 22s
   Dec(J2000) = -26d 39' 31"
```
with an uncertainty of 3 arcmin (radius, 90% containment, including systematic uncertainty). The BAT light curve shows a single peak with a duration of about 30 sec. The peak count rate was ~1000 counts/sec (15-350 keV), at ~5 sec after the trigger.
There will be no XRT or UVOT observations of this burst because of the Sun observing constraint.
Burst Advocate for this burst is C. Pagani (pagani AT astro.psu.edu). 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.)
GCN Circular #7139
D. Palmer (LANL), S. D. Barthelmy (GSFC), J. Cummings (GSFC/UMBC), E. Fenimore (LANL), N. Gehrels (GSFC), H. Krimm (GSFC/USRA), C. Markwardt (GSFC/UMD), C. Pagani (PSU), T. Sakamoto (GSFC/UMBC), G. Sato (GSFC/ISAS), M. Stamatikos (GSFC/ORAU), J. Tueller (GSFC), T. Ukwatta (GWU) (i.e. the Swift-BAT team):
Using the data set from T-240 to T+800 sec from recent telemetry downlinks, we report further analysis of BAT GRB 071129 (trigger #297628) (Pagani, et al., GCN Circ. 7138). The BAT ground-calculated position is RA, Dec = 220.039, -26.667 deg, which is
```
   RA(J2000)  =  14h 40m 09.3s 
   Dec(J2000) = -26d 39' 60" 
```
with an uncertainty of 2.2 arcmin, (radius, sys+stat, 90% containment). The partial coding was 55%.
The mask-weighted light curve shows three long, low, smooth peaks. The first starts at ~T-10 sec, peaks at ~T+5 sec, and then roughly exponentially decays t a minimum around T+100 sec. The second peak is more symmetric rising to a peak at ~T+180 sec and decaying back to baseline around T+300 sec. The third weaker peak reaches a max around T+400 sec and is over by around T+450 sec. T90 (15-350 keV) is 420 +- 100 sec (estimated error including systematics).
The time-averaged spectrum from T-5.6 to T+522.3 sec is best fit by a simple power-law model. The power law index of the time-averaged spectrum is 1.94 +- 0.16. The fluence in the 15-150 keV band is 3.5 +- 0.3 x 10^-6 erg/cm2. The 1-sec peak photon flux measured from T+5.83 sec in the 15-150 keV band is 0.9 +- 0.2 ph/cm2/sec. All the quoted errors are at the 90% confidence level.
This burst satisfies Sakamoto/Ukwatta Swift-BAT possible high-z criteria:
```
1) Power law photon index = 1.94  (PL photon index < 2)
2) 1-s peak photon flux = 0.9     (1-s peak photon flux < 1.0 ph/cm2/s)
3) Light curve variance = 1.5e-6  (Variance < 0.0001)
4) T90/(Peak photon flux) = 480   (T90/(Peak photon flux) > 200)
```
Based on a limited sample of bursts, these criteria yield an 85% chance it has a redshift greater than 3.5.
GCN Report 108.1
GCN_Report 108.1 has been posted: http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/reports/report_108_1.pdf by C. Pagani at PSU titled: "Swift Observations of GRB 071129"

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Jochen Greiner, last update: 30-Nov-2007 [Disclaimer]