Discovery of a Mid-infrared Echo from the TDE Candidate in the Nucleus of ULIRG F01004−2237
- Center for Astrophysics, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006 (China)
- CAS Key Laboratory for Researches in Galaxies and Cosmology, University of Sciences and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China)
- Caltech Optical Observatories, Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
- IPAC, Mail Code 100-22, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
We present the mid-infrared (MIR) light curves (LCs) of a tidal disruption event candidate in the center of a nearby ultraluminous infrared galaxy F01004−2237 using archival WISE and NEOWISE data from 2010 to 2016. At the peak of the optical flare, F01004−2237 was IR quiescent. About three years later, its MIR fluxes have shown a steady increase, rising by 1.34 and 1.04 mag in 3.4 and 4.6 μ m up to the end of 2016. The host-subtracted MIR peak luminosity is 2–3 × 10{sup 44} erg s{sup −1}. We interpret the MIR LCs as an infrared echo, i.e., dust reprocessed emission of the optical flare. Fitting the MIR LCs using our dust model, we infer a dust torus of the size of a few parsecs at some inclined angle. The derived dust temperatures range from 590–850 K, and the warm dust mass is ∼7 M {sub ⊙}. Such a large mass implies that the dust cannot be newly formed. We also derive the UV luminosity of 4–11 × 10{sup 44} erg s{sup −1}. The inferred total IR energy is 1–2 × 10{sup 52} erg, suggesting a large dust covering factor. Finally, our dust model suggests that the long tail of the optical flare could be due to dust scattering.
- OSTI ID:
- 22654476
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 841, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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