The Swift XRT Observations of Early X-ray Afterglows

During the first year of operations of the Swift observatory, the X-ray Telescope has made a number of discoveries concerning the nature of X-ray afterglows of both long and short GRBs. We highlight the key findings, which include rapid declines at early times, a standard template of afterglow light curve shapes, common flaring, and the discovery of the first short GRB afterglow.