| 1. |
- Nicholl, M., et al.
(författare)
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An outflow powers the optical rise of the nearby, fast-evolving tidal disruption event AT2019qiz
- 2020
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Ingår i: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 499:1, s. 482-504
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- At 66 Mpc, AT2019qiz is the closest optical tidal disruption event (TDE) to date, with a luminosity intermediate between the bulk of the population and the faint-and-fast event iPTF16fnl. Its proximity allowed a very early detection and triggering of multiwavelength and spectroscopic follow-up well before maximum light. The velocity dispersion of the host galaxy and fits to the TDE light curve indicate a black hole mass approximate to 10(6) M-circle dot, disrupting a star of approximate to 1 M-circle dot. By analysing our comprehensive UV, optical, and X-ray data, we show that the early optical emission is dominated by an outflow, with a luminosity evolution L proportional to t(2), consistent with a photosphere expanding at constant velocity (greater than or similar to 2000 km s(-1)), and a line-forming region producing initially blueshifted H and He II profiles with v = 3000-10 000 km s(-1). The fastest optical ejecta approach the velocity inferred from radio detections (modelled in a forthcoming companion paper from K. D. Alexander et al.), thus the same outflow may be responsible for both the fast optical rise and the radio emission - the first time this connection has been observed in a TDE. The light-curve rise begins 29 +/- 2 d before maximum light, peaking when the photosphere reaches the radius where optical photons can escape. The photosphere then undergoes a sudden transition, first cooling at constant radius then contracting at constant temperature. At the same time, the blueshifts disappear from the spectrum and Bowen fluorescence lines (N III) become prominent, implying a source of far-UV photons, while the X-ray light curve peaks at approximate to 10(41) erg s(-1). Assuming that these X-rays are from prompt accretion, the size and mass of the outflow are consistent with the reprocessing layer needed to explain the large optical to X-ray ratio in this and other optical TDEs, possibly favouring accretion-powered over collision-powered outflow models.
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| 2. |
- Petrushevska, T., et al.
(författare)
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The rise and fall of the iron-strong nuclear transient PS16dtm
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 669
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Thanks to the advent of large-scale optical surveys, a diverse set of flares from the nuclear regions of galaxies has recently been discovered. These include the disruption of stars by supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies – nuclear transients known as tidal disruption events (TDEs). Active galactic nuclei (AGN) can show extreme changes in the brightness and emission line intensities, often referred to as changing-look AGN (CLAGN). Given the physical and observational similarities, the interpretation and distinction of nuclear transients as CLAGN or TDEs remains difficult. One of the obstacles of making progress in the field is the lack of well-sampled data of long-lived nuclear outbursts in AGN.Aims. Here, we study PS16dtm, a nuclear transient in a Narrow Line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) galaxy, which has been proposed to be a TDE candidate. Our aim is to study the spectroscopic and photometric properties of PS16dtm, in order to better understand the outbursts originating in NLSy1 galaxies.Methods. Our extensive multiwavelength follow-up that spans around 2000 days includes photometry and spectroscopy in the UV/optical, as well as mid-infrared (MIR) and X-ray observations. Furthermore, we improved an existing semiempirical model in order to reproduce the spectra and study the evolution of the spectral lines.Results. The UV/optical light curve shows a double peak at ∼50 and ∼100 days after the first detection, and it declines and flattens afterward, reaching preoutburst levels after 2000 days of monitoring. The MIR light curve rises almost simultaneously with the optical, but unlike the UV/optical which is approaching the preoutburst levels in the last epochs of our observations, the MIR emission is still rising at the time of writing. The optical spectra show broad Balmer features and the strongest broad Fe II emission ever detected in a nuclear transient. This broad Fe II emission was not present in the archival preoutburst spectrum and almost completely disappeared +1868 days after the outburst. We found that the majority of the flux of the broad Balmer and Fe II lines is produced by photoionization. We detect only weak X-ray emission in the 0.5−8 keV band at the location of PS16dtm, at +848, +1130, and +1429 days past the outburst. This means that the X-ray emission continues to be lower by at least an order of magnitude, compared to archival, preoutburst measurements.Conclusions. We confirm that the observed properties of PS16dtm are difficult to reconcile with normal AGN variability. The TDE scenario continues to be a plausible explanation for the observed properties, even though PS16dtm shows differences compared to TDE in quiescent galaxies. We suggest that this event is part of a growing sample of TDEs that show broad Balmer line profiles and Fe II complexes. We argue that the extreme variability seen in the AGN host due to PS16dtm may have easily been misclassified as a CLAGN, especially if the rising part of the light curve had been missed. This implies that some changing look episodes in AGN may be triggered by TDEs. Imaging and spectroscopic data of AGN with good sampling are needed to enable testing of possible physical mechanisms behind the extreme variability in AGN.
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| 3. |
- Short, P., et al.
(författare)
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The tidal disruption event AT2018hyz-I. Double-peaked emission lines and a flat Balmer decrement
- 2020
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Ingår i: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 498:3, s. 4119-4133
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present results from spectroscopic observations of AT 2018hyz, a transient discovered by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernova survey at an absolute magnitude of M-V similar to -20.2 mag, in the nucleus of a quiescent galaxy with strong Balmer absorption lines. AT 2018hyz shows a blue spectral continuum and broad emission lines, consistent with previous TDE candidates. High cadence follow-up spectra show broad Balmer lines and He I in early spectra, with He II making an appearance after similar to 70-100 d. The Balmer lines evolve from a smooth broad profile, through a boxy, asymmetric double-peaked phase consistent with accretion disc emission, and back to smooth at late times. The Balmer lines are unlike typical active galactic nucleus in that they show a flat Balmer decrement (H alpha/H beta similar to 1.5), suggesting the lines are collisionally excited rather than being produced via photoionization. The flat Balmer decrement together with the complex profiles suggests that the emission lines originate in a disc chromosphere, analogous to those seen in cataclysmic variables. The low optical depth of material due to a possible partial disruption may be what allows us to observe these double-peaked, collisionally excited lines. The late appearance of He II may be due to an expanding photosphere or outflow, or late-time shocks in debris collisions.
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| 4. |
- Onori, F., et al.
(författare)
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The nuclear transient AT 2017gge : a tidal disruption event in a dusty and gas-rich environment and the awakening of a dormant SMBH
- 2022
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Ingår i: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0035-8711 .- 1365-2966. ; 517:1, s. 76-98
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present the results from a dense multwavelength [optical/UV, near-infrared (IR), and X-ray] follow-up campaign of the nuclear transient AT 2017gge, covering a total of 1698 d from the transient's discovery. The bolometric light curve, the blackbody temperature and radius, the broad H and He i lambda 5876 emission lines and their evolution with time, are all consistent with a tidal disruption event (TDE) nature. A soft X-ray flare is detected with a delay of similar to 200 d with respect to the optical/UV peak and it is rapidly followed by the emergence of a broad He ii lambda 4686 and by a number of long-lasting high ionization coronal emission lines. This indicate a clear connection between a TDE flare and the appearance of extreme coronal line emission (ECLEs). An IR echo, resulting from dust re-radiation of the optical/UV TDE light is observed after the X-ray flare and the associated near-IR spectra show a transient broad feature in correspondence of the He i lambda 10830 and, for the first time in a TDE, a transient high-ionization coronal NIR line (the [Fe xiii] lambda 10798) is also detected. The data are well explained by a scenario in which a TDE occurs in a gas-and-dust rich environment and its optical/UV, soft X-ray, and IR emission have different origins and locations. The optical emission may be produced by stellar debris stream collisions prior to the accretion disc formation, which is instead responsible for the soft X-ray flare, emitted after the end of the circularization process.
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| 5. |
- Wevers, T., et al.
(författare)
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An elliptical accretion disk following the tidal disruption event AT 2020zso
- 2022
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 666
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims. The modelling of spectroscopic observations of tidal disruption events (TDEs) to date suggests that the newly formed accretion disks are mostly quasi-circular. In this work we study the transient event AT 2020zso, hosted by an active galactic nucleus (AGN; as inferred from narrow emission line diagnostics), with the aim of characterising the properties of its newly formed accretion flow.Methods. We classify AT 2020zso as a TDE based on the blackbody evolution inferred from UV/optical photometric observations and spectral line content and evolution. We identify transient, double-peaked Bowen (N III), He I, He II, and Hα emission lines. We model medium-resolution optical spectroscopy of the He II (after careful de-blending of the N III contribution) and Hα lines during the rise, peak, and early decline of the light curve using relativistic, elliptical accretion disk models.Results. We find that the spectral evolution before the peak can be explained by optical depth effects consistent with an outflowing, optically thick Eddington envelope. Around the peak, the envelope reaches its maximum extent (approximately 1015 cm, or ∼3000–6000 gravitational radii for an inferred black hole mass of 5−10 × 105 M⊙) and becomes optically thin. The Hα and He II emission lines at and after the peak can be reproduced with a highly inclined (i = 85 ± 5 degrees), highly elliptical (e = 0.97 ± 0.01), and relatively compact (Rin = several 100 Rg and Rout = several 1000 Rg) accretion disk.Conclusions. Overall, the line profiles suggest a highly elliptical geometry for the new accretion flow, consistent with theoretical expectations of newly formed TDE disks. We quantitatively confirm, for the first time, the high inclination nature of a Bowen (and X-ray dim) TDE, consistent with the unification picture of TDEs, where the inclination largely determines the observational appearance. Rapid line profile variations rule out the binary supermassive black hole hypothesis as the origin of the eccentricity; these results thus provide a direct link between a TDE in an AGN and the eccentric accretion disk. We illustrate for the first time how optical spectroscopy can be used to constrain the black hole spin, through (the lack of) disk precession signatures (changes in inferred inclination). We constrain the disk alignment timescale to > 15 days in AT2020zso, which rules out high black hole spin values (a < 0.8) for MBH ∼ 106 M⊙ and disk viscosity α ≳ 0.1.
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