TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 7103 SUBJECT: GRB 071117: Swift-XRT refined analysis DATE: 07/11/17 23:01:27 GMT FROM: Cristiano Guidorzi at INAF-OAB C. Guidorzi, P. Romano (Univ. Bicocca & INAF-OAB), A. Moretti (INAF-OAB) and T.N. Ukwatta (GSFC/GWU), report on behalf of the Swift-XRT team: Swift XRT observed the GRB 071117 (trigger=296805, Ukwatta et al., GCN Circ. 7098) beginning 2.8 ks after the BAT trigger. In 4.4 ks of Photon Counting mode data spanning 2.8-14.7 ks after the trigger the position of the X-ray afterglow is RA,Dec =335.04579,-63.44278 degrees, which corresponds to RA(J2000) = 22 20 10.99 Dec(J2000)= -63 26 34.0 with error circle of radius 3.8 arcsec (90%, including boresight uncertainties). This lies 3.6 arcsec from the previous XRT position (Romano et al., GCN Circ. 7100) and 32 arcsec from the BAT refined position (Krimm et al., GCN Circ 7102). The X-ray light curve can be fit by a power law from T+2.8ks to T+14.7ks, with a decay index of 0.8 +/- 0.2. The Photon Counting spectrum can modelled with an absorbed power-law, with a photon index of 2.2 +0.4/-0.3 and a total absorbing column of NH = (2.3 +0.9/-0.8) e21 cm-2. The Galactic value is 2.3e20 cm-2 in the direction of the burst. The 0.3-10 keV observed (unabsorbed) flux during this time is 3.0e-12 (5.0e-12) erg cm-2 s-1. Uncertainties are given at 90% confidence. Assuming the source continues to decay with the same rate, we predict an XRT count rate of 1.3e-2 counts/s at T+24 hours, which corresponds to an observed 0.3-10keV flux of 7.8e-13 ergs cm-2 s-1. This circular is an official product of the Swift-XRT team.