REVEALING THE NATURE OF EXTREME CORONAL-LINE EMITTER SDSS J095209.56+214313.3
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Palaversa-2016-REVEALING THE NATURE.pdf
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Author(s)
Palaversa, Lovro
Gezari, Suvi
Sesar, Branimir
Wozniak, Przemyslaw
Holl, Berry
Ivezić, Željko
Stuart, J. Scott
Date Issued
March 2016
Journal
The Astrophysical Journal
Publisher
IOP Publishing
Citation
Palaversa, Lovro, Suvi Gezari, Branimir Sesar, J. Scott Stuart, Przemyslaw Wozniak, Berry Holl, and Željko Ivezić. “REVEALING THE NATURE OF EXTREME CORONAL-LINE EMITTER SDSS J095209.56+214313.3.” The Astrophysical Journal 819, no. 2 (March 8, 2016): 151. © 2016 The American Astronomical Society
Version
Final published version
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 years after the start of the flare, strongly disfavors an SN origin. 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.
MIT Department
Lincoln Laboratory
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637x/819/2/151
