Early observations of the Afterglow of GRB000301c

Abstract

We report multiband observations of the Optical Transient (OT) associated with GRB000301c carried out between 2--4 March 2000 using the 2.34-m Vainu Bappu Telescope (VBT) at Kavalur, India. When combined with other reported data, the initial decline in the R-band magnitude with log ($t-t_0$), the time since the burst is fit with a slope $α_{1}$ = -0.70 $\pm$ 0.07 which steepens after about 6.0 days to a slope of $α_{2}$ = -2.44 $\pm$ 0.29. This change in slope does not occur smoothly but there is an indication for a bimodal distribution. The available measurements of the evolution of (B--R) color do not show any discernible evolution in the first 12 days.

14 pages, 2 postscript figures, Accepted for Publication in ApJ Letters