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Title: MUSE Reveals a Recent Merger in the Post-Starburst Host Galaxy of the TDE ASASSN-14li

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online)
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [8]; ORCiD logo [9]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [10];  [5]
  1. Diego Portales Univ. (Chile); Millennium Inst. of Astrophysics, Santiago (Chile)
  2. Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), Garching (Germany)
  3. European Southern Observatory, Santiago (Chile)
  4. Millennium Inst. of Astrophysics, Santiago (Chile); Univ. of Chile, Santiago (Chile)
  5. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
  6. Univ. Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City (Mexico)
  7. Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
  8. Univ. of Chile, Santiago (Chile)
  9. National Inst. of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics, Puebla (México)
  10. Carnegie Observatories, Pasadena, CA (United States)

We introduce Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) integral field spectroscopic observations of the host galaxy (PGC 043234) of one of the closest (z = 0.0206, D ≃ 90 Mpc) and best-studied tidal disruption events (TDEs), ASASSN-14li. The MUSE integral field data reflect asymmetric and filamentary structures that extend up to ≳10 kpc from the post-starburst host galaxy of ASASSN-14li. The structures are traced only through the strong nebular [O III] λ5007, [N II] λ6584, and Hα emission lines. The total off-nuclear [O III] λ5007 luminosity is 4.7 × 1039 erg s-1, and the ionized H mass is $$\sim {10}^{4}(500/{n}_{{\rm{e}}})\,{M}_{\odot }$$. Based on the Baldwin–Phillips–Terlevich diagram, the nebular emission can be driven by either AGN photoionization or shock excitation, with AGN photoionization favored given the narrow intrinsic line widths. The emission line ratios and spatial distribution strongly resemble ionization nebulae around fading AGNs such as IC 2497 (Hanny's Voorwerp) and ionization "cones" around Seyfert 2 nuclei. The morphology of the emission line filaments strongly suggest that PGC 043234 is a recent merger, which likely triggered a strong starburst and AGN activity leading to the post-starburst spectral signatures and the extended nebular emission line features we see today. We briefly discuss the implications of these observations in the context of the strongly enhanced TDE rates observed in post-starburst galaxies and their connection to enhanced theoretical TDE rates produced by supermassive black hole binaries.

Research Organization:
Krell Institute, Ames, IA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-97ER25308
OSTI ID:
1537194
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online), Vol. 830, Issue 2; ISSN 2041-8213
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 34 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Tidal Disruption Events Prefer Unusual Host Galaxies text January 2016
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Cited By (22)

Hot gas around SN 1998bw: Inferring the progenitor from its environment journal June 2017
The supermassive black hole coincident with the luminous transient ASASSN-15lh journal February 2018
The environment of the SN-less GRB 111005A at z = 0.0133 journal July 2018
The extraplanar type II supernova ASASSN-14jb in the nearby edge-on galaxy ESO 467-G051 journal September 2019
The ASAS-SN bright supernova catalogue – III. 2016 journal August 2017
Long-term radio and X-ray evolution of the tidal disruption event ASASSN-14li journal January 2018
Systematic study of outflows in the Local Universe using CALIFA: I. Sample selection and main properties journal November 2018
The ASAS-SN bright supernova catalogue – IV. 2017 journal January 2019
The Post-starburst Evolution of Tidal Disruption Event Host Galaxies journal January 2017
iPTF16fnl: A Faint and Fast Tidal Disruption Event in an E+A Galaxy journal July 2017
A Dependence of the Tidal Disruption Event Rate on Global Stellar Surface Mass Density and Stellar Velocity Dispersion journal January 2018
PISCO: The PMAS/PPak Integral-field Supernova Hosts Compilation journal March 2018
Discovery of a Time Lag between the Soft X-Ray and Radio Emission of the Tidal Disruption Flare ASASSN-14li: Evidence for Linear Disk–Jet Coupling journal March 2018
Why Post-starburst Galaxies Are Now Quiescent journal July 2018
PS18kh: A New Tidal Disruption Event with a Non-axisymmetric Accretion Disk journal August 2019
The supermassive black hole coincident with the luminous transient ASASSN-15lh text January 2018
The Post-Starburst Evolution of Tidal Disruption Event Host Galaxies text January 2016
iPTF16fnl: a faint and fast tidal disruption event in an E+A galaxy text January 2017
A dependence of the tidal disruption event rate on global stellar surface mass density and stellar velocity dispersion text January 2017
The environment of the SN-less GRB 111005A at z = 0.0133 text January 2017
Discovery of a time lag between the soft X-ray and radio emission of the tidal disruption flare ASASSN-14li: Evidence for linear disk-jet coupling text January 2017
Systematic study of outflows in the Local Universe using CALIFA: I. Sample selection and main properties text January 2018

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