A Tale of Two Faint Bursts GRB 050223 and GRB 050911

GRBs 050223 and 050911 are examples of Swift bursts with two of the faintest X-ray afterglows at (relatively) early times. While a faint, fading X-ray afterglow was located for GRB 050223, GRB 050911 was not detected, making any X-ray afterglow extremely faint. The faintness of the afterglow of GRB 050223 could be explained by a large opening or viewing angle, or by the burst being at high redshift. The non-detection of GRB 050911 may indicate the burst occurred in a low-density environment, or, alternatively, was due to a compact object merger, in spite of the apparent long duration of the burst.