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Title: The ultraviolet spectroscopic evolution of the low-luminosity tidal disruption event iPTF16fnl

Journal Article · · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [7];  [1];  [1];  [8];  [8];  [8]
  1. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
  2. Carnegie Observatories, Pasadena, CA (United States)
  3. Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago (Chile)
  4. Carnegie Observatories, La Serena (Chile)
  5. Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA (United States)
  6. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
  7. Post Observatory, Lexington, MA (United States)
  8. Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
+ Show Author Affiliations

In this work, we present the ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopic evolution of a tidal disruption event (TDE) for the first time. After the discovery of the nearby TDE iPTF16fnl, we obtained a series of observations with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) onboard the HubbleSpaceTelescope (HST). The dominant emission features closely resemble those seen in the UV spectra of the TDE ASASSN-14li and are also similar to those of N-rich quasars. There is evolution in the shape and central wavelength of the dominant emission features over the course of our observations, such that at early times the lines tend to be broad and redshifted, while at later times they are narrower and peak near the wavelengths of their atomic transitions. Like ASASSN-14li, but unlike N-rich quasars, iPTF16fnl shows neither Mg II 2798 Å nor C III] 1909 Å emission features. We also present optical photometry and spectroscopy, which suggest that the complex He II profiles observed in the optical spectra of many TDEs are in part due to the presence of N III and C III Wolf–Rayet features, which can potentially serve as probes of the far-UV when space-based observations are not possible. Finally, we use Swift X-ray Telescope and Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) observations to place strong limits on the X-ray emission and determine the characteristic temperature, radius and luminosity of the emitting material. Lastly, we find that iPTF16fnl is subluminous and evolves more rapidly than other optically discovered TDEs.

Research Organization:
The Krell Institute, Inc., Ames, IA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-97ER25308
OSTI ID:
1512965
Journal Information:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 473, Issue 1; ISSN 0035-8711
Publisher:
Royal Astronomical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 53 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (35)

A new class of flares from accreting supermassive black holes journal January 2019
Tidally disrupted stars as a possible origin of both cosmic rays and neutrinos at the highest energies journal July 2018
The unusual late-time evolution of the tidal disruption event ASASSN-15oi journal August 2018
Swift spectra of AT2018cow: a white dwarf tidal disruption event? journal January 2019
The tidal disruption event AT2017eqx: spectroscopic evolution from hydrogen rich to poor suggests an atmosphere and outflow journal July 2019
Optical follow-up of the tidal disruption event iPTF16fnl: new insights from X-shooter observations journal July 2019
Self-intersection of the fallback stream in tidal disruption events journal December 2019
On the Mass and Luminosity Functions of Tidal Disruption Flares: Rate Suppression due to Black Hole Event Horizons journal January 2018
A Dependence of the Tidal Disruption Event Rate on Global Stellar Surface Mass Density and Stellar Velocity Dispersion journal January 2018
What Sets the Line Profiles in Tidal Disruption Events? journal March 2018
Tidal Disruptions of Main-sequence Stars of Varying Mass and Age: Inferences from the Composition of the Fallback Material journal April 2018
A Candidate Tidal Disruption Event in a Quasar at z = 2.359 from Abundance Ratio Variability journal May 2018
A Luminous Transient Event in a Sample of WISE -selected Variable AGNs journal October 2018
Weighing Black Holes Using Tidal Disruption Events journal February 2019
The Broad Absorption Line Tidal Disruption Event iPTF15af: Optical and Ultraviolet Evolution journal March 2019
Discovery of Highly Blueshifted Broad Balmer and Metastable Helium Absorption Lines in a Tidal Disruption Event journal July 2019
PS18kh: A New Tidal Disruption Event with a Non-axisymmetric Accretion Disk journal August 2019
A New Class of Changing-look LINERs journal September 2019
Discovery and Early Evolution of ASASSN-19bt, the First TDE Detected by TESS journal September 2019
The Spectral Evolution of AT 2018dyb and the Presence of Metal Lines in Tidal Disruption Events journal December 2019
The Tidal Disruption of Sun-like Stars by Massive Black Holes journal September 2019
Tidally disrupted stars as a possible origin of both cosmic rays and neutrinos at the highest energies text January 2018
Tidally disrupted stars as a possible origin of both cosmic rays and neutrinos at the highest energies text January 2017
A dependence of the tidal disruption event rate on global stellar surface mass density and stellar velocity dispersion text January 2017
On the mass and luminosity functions of tidal disruption flares: rate suppression due to black hole event horizons text January 2017
Tidally disrupted stars as a possible origin of both cosmic rays and neutrinos at the highest energies text January 2017
Weighing Black Holes using Tidal Disruption Events text January 2018
The Unusual Late-Time Evolution of the Tidal Disruption Event ASASSN-15oi text January 2018
A Luminous Transient Event in a Sample of WISE-Selected Variable AGN text January 2018
Swift spectra of AT2018cow: A White Dwarf Tidal Disruption Event? text January 2018
The Broad Absorption Line Tidal Disruption Event iPTF15af: Optical and Ultraviolet Evolution text January 2018
The spectral evolution of AT 2018dyb and the presence of metal lines in tidal disruption events text January 2019
Discovery of Highly Blueshifted Broad Balmer and Metastable Helium Absorption Lines in a Tidal Disruption Event text January 2019
Optical follow-up of the tidal disruption event iPTF16fnl: new insights from X-shooter observations text January 2019
The Host Galaxies of Tidal Disruption Events journal March 2020

Figures / Tables (13)

Table 1(p. 2)table Table 1
Table 2(p. 3)table Table 2
Figure 1(p. 4)figure Figure 1
Figure 2(p. 5)figure Figure 2
Figure 3(p. 7)figure Figure 3
Figure 4(p. 8)figure Figure 4
Figure 5(p. 9)figure Figure 5
Figure 6(p. 10)figure Figure 6
Figure 7(p. 10)figure Figure 7
Figure 8(p. 10)figure Figure 8
Figure 9(p. 11)figure Figure 9
Table A1(p. 14)table Table A1
Table A2(p. 15)table Table A2

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
accretion
accretion discs
black hole physics
galaxies: nuclei