Title: Revealing the nature of extreme coronal-line emitter SDSS J095209.56+214313.3

Abstract

Extreme coronal-line emitter (ECLE) SDSS J095209.56+214313.3, known by its strong, fading, high-ionization lines, has been a long-standing candidate for a tidal disruption event; however, a supernova (SN) origin has not yet been ruled out. Here we add several new pieces of information to the puzzle of the nature of the transient that powered its variable coronal lines: (1) an optical light curve from the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey that serendipitously catches the optical flare, and (2) late-time observations of the host galaxy with the Swift Ultraviolet and Optical Telescope (UVOT) and X-ray telescope (XRT) and the ground-based Mercator telescope. The well-sampled, ~10 yr long, unfiltered LINEAR light curve constrains the onset of the flare to a precision of ±5 days and enables us to place a lower limit on the peak optical magnitude. Difference imaging allows us to estimate the location of the flare in proximity of the host galaxy core. Comparison of the GALEX data (early 2006) with the recently acquired Swift UVOT (2015 June) and Mercator observations (2015 April) demonstrates a decrease in the UV flux over a ~10 yr period, confirming that the flare was UV-bright. The long-lived UV-bright emission, detected 1.8 rest-frame yearsmore » after the start of the flare, strongly disfavors an SN origin. In conclusion, these new data allow us to conclude that the flare was indeed powered by the tidal disruption of a star by a supermassive black hole and that tidal disruption events are in fact capable of powering the enigmatic class of ECLEs.« less

Authors:

Palaversa, Lovro ^[1]; Gezari, Suvi ^[2]; Sesar, Branimir ^[3]; Stuart, J. Scott ^[4]; Wozniak, Przemyslaw  ^[5];

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Holl, Berry ^[1]; Ivezić, Željko ^[6]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Observatoire astronomique de l'Universite de Geneve, Sauverny (Switzerland)
2. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States). Dept. of Astronomy
3. Max Planck Inst. for Astronomy, Heidelberg (Germany)
4. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Lincoln Lab.
5. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
6. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States). Dept. of Astronomy

Publication Date:

Tue Mar 08 00:00:00 EST 2016

Research Org.:

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; European Union (EU); National Science Foundation (NSF); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

OSTI Identifier:

1412868

Report Number(s):

LA-UR-17-27742
Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357; TRN: US1800383

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC52-06NA25396; NNX15AR46G; FA8721-05-C-0002; 227224; NNG05GF22G; AST-0909182

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

The Astrophysical Journal (Online)

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online); Journal Volume: 819; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1538-4357

Publisher:

Institute of Physics (IOP)

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Astronomy and Astrophysics; black hole physics; circumstellar matter; galaxies individual (SDSS J095209.56+214313.3); galaxies nuclei; supernovae general; ultraviolet galaxies