We present the discovery and early evolution of ASASSN-19bt, a tidal disruption event (TDE) discovered by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) at a distance of d 115 Mpc and the ...first TDE to be detected by TESS. As the TDE is located in the TESS Continuous Viewing Zone, our data set includes 30 minute cadence observations starting on 2018 July 25, and we precisely measure that the TDE begins to brighten ∼8.3 days before its discovery. Our data set also includes 18 epochs of Swift UVOT and XRT observations, 2 epochs of XMM-Newton observations, 13 spectroscopic observations, and ground data from the Las Cumbres Observatory telescope network, spanning from 32 days before peak through 37 days after peak. ASASSN-19bt thus has the most detailed pre-peak data set for any TDE. The TESS light curve indicates that the transient began to brighten on 2019 January 21.6 and that for the first 15 days, its rise was consistent with a flux ∝t2 power-law model. The optical/UV emission is well fit by a blackbody spectral energy distribution, and ASASSN-19bt exhibits an early spike in its luminosity and temperature roughly 32 rest-frame days before peak and spanning up to 14 days, which has not been seen in other TDEs, possibly because UV observations were not triggered early enough to detect it. It peaked on 2019 March 4.9 at a luminosity of L 1.3 × 1044 erg s−1 and radiated E 3.2 × 1050 erg during the 41 day rise to peak. X-ray observations after peak indicate a softening of the hard X-ray emission prior to peak, reminiscent of the hard/soft states in X-ray binaries.
We present multi wavelength observations that trace more than 40 yr in the life of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) in Mrk 590, traditionally known as a classic Seyfert 1 galaxy. From spectra ...recently obtained from Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra, and the Large Binocular Telescope, we find that the activity in the nucleus of Mrk 590 has diminished so significantly that the continuum luminosity is a factor of 100 lower than the peak luminosity probed by our long-baseline observations. Furthermore, the broad emission lines, once prominent in the UV/optical spectrum, have all but disappeared. Since AGN type is defined by the presence of broad emission lines in the optical spectrum, our observations demonstrate that Mrk 590 has now become a "changing-look" AGN. If classified by recent optical spectra, Mrk 590 would be a Seyfert ~1.9-2, where the only broad emission line still visible in the optical spectrum is a weak component of H alpha . As an additional consequence of this change, we have definitively detected UV narrow-line components in a Type 1 AGN, allowing an analysis of these emission-line components with high-resolution COS spectra. These observations challenge the historical paradigm that AGN type is only a consequence of the line-of-sight viewing angle toward the nucleus in the presence of a geometrically flattened, obscuring medium (i.e., the torus). Our data instead suggest that the current state of Mrk 590 is a consequence of the change in luminosity, which implies the black hole accretion rate has significantly decreased.
Abstract
We present 307 type Ia supernova (SN) light curves from the first 4 yr of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission. We use this sample to characterize the shapes of the early-time ...light curves, measure the rise times from first light to peak, and search for companion star interactions. Using simulations, we show that light curves must have noise <10% of the peak flux to avoid biases in the early-time light-curve shape, restricting our quantitative analysis to 74 light curves. We find that the mean power-law index
t
β
1
of the early-time light curves is
β
1
= 1.93 ± 0.57, and the mean rise time to peak is 15.7 ± 3.5 days. The underlying population distribution for
β
1
may instead consist of a Gaussian component with mean 2.29, width 0.34, and a long tail extending to values less than 1.0. We find that the data can rarely distinguish between models with and without companion interaction models. Nevertheless, we find three high-quality light curves that tentatively prefer the addition of a companion interaction model, but the statistical evidence for the companion interactions is not robust. We also find two SNe that disfavor the addition of a companion interaction model to a curved power-law model. Taking the 74 SNe together, we calculate 3
σ
upper limits on the presence of companion signatures to control for orientation effects that can hide companions in individual light curves. Our results rule out common progenitor systems with companions having Roche lobe radii >31
R
⊙
(separations >5.7 × 10
12
cm, 99.9% confidence level) and disfavor companions having Roche lobe radii >10
R
⊙
(separations >1.9 × 10
12
cm, 95% confidence level). Lastly, we discuss the implications of our results for the intrinsic fraction of single degenerate progenitor systems.
In 2014 the NGC 5548 Space Telescope and Optical Reverberation Mapping campaign discovered a two-month anomaly when variations in the absorption and emission lines decorrelated from continuum ...variations. During this time the soft X-ray part of the intrinsic spectrum had been strongly absorbed by a line-of-sight (LOS) obscurer, which was interpreted as the upper part of a disk wind. Our first paper showed that changes in the LOS obscurer produces the decorrelation between the absorption lines and the continuum. A second study showed that the base of the wind shields the broad emission-line region (BLR), leading to the emission-line decorrelation. In that study, we proposed the wind is normally transparent with no effect on the spectrum. Changes in the wind properties alter its shielding and affect the spectral energy distribution (SED) striking the BLR, producing the observed decorrelations. In this work we investigate the impact of a translucent wind on the emission lines. We simulate the obscuration using XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, and Hubble Space Telescope observations to determine the physical characteristics of the wind. We find that a translucent wind can contribute a part of the He ii and Fe K emission. It has a modest optical depth to electron scattering, which explains the fainter far-side emission in the observed velocity-delay maps. The wind produces the very broad base seen in the UV emission lines and may also be present in the Fe K line. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for the effects of such winds in the analysis of the physics of the central engine.
We present the first results from a reverberation-mapping campaign undertaken during the first half of 2012, with additional data on one active galactic nucleus (AGN) (NGC 3227) from a 2014 campaign. ...Our main goals are (1) to determine the black hole masses from continuum-Hβ reverberation signatures, and (2) to look for velocity-dependent time delays that might be indicators of the gross kinematics of the broad-line region. We successfully measure Hβ time delays and black hole masses for five AGNs, four of which have previous reverberation mass measurements. The values measured here are in agreement with earlier estimates, though there is some intrinsic scatter beyond the formal measurement errors. We observe velocity-dependent Hβ lags in each case, and find that the patterns have changed in the intervening five years for three AGNs that were also observed in 2007.
We report the discovery of GJ 3929 b, a hot Earth-sized planet orbiting the nearby M3.5 V dwarf star, GJ 3929 (G 180-18, TOI-2013). Joint modelling of photometric observations from TESS sectors 24 ...and 25 together with 73 spectroscopic observations from CARMENES and follow-up transit observations from SAINT-EX, LCOGT, and OSN yields a planet radius of
R
b
= 1.150 ± 0.040
R
⊕
, a mass of
M
b
= 1.21 ± 0.42
M
⊕
, and an orbital period of
P
b
= 2.6162745 ± 0.0000030
d
. The resulting density of
ρ
b
= 4.4 ± 1.6 g cm
−3
is compatible with the Earth’s mean density of about 5.5 g cm
−3
. Due to the apparent brightness of the host star (
J
= 8.7 mag) and its small size, GJ 3929 b is a promising target for atmospheric characterisation with the JWST. Additionally, the radial velocity data show evidence for another planet candidate with
P
c
= 14.303 ± 0.035 d, which is likely unrelated to the stellar rotation period,
P
rot
= 122 ± 13 d, which we determined from archival HATNet and ASAS-SN photometry combined with newly obtained TJO data.
ABSTRACT We conduct a multiwavelength continuum variability study of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 to investigate the temperature structure of its accretion disk. The 19 overlapping continuum light ...curves ( to ) combine simultaneous Hubble Space Telescope, Swift, and ground-based observations over a 180 day period from 2014 January to July. Light-curve variability is interpreted as the reverberation response of the accretion disk to irradiation by a central time-varying point source. Our model yields the disk inclination , temperature K at 1 light day from the black hole, and a temperature-radius slope ( ) of . We also infer the driving light curve and find that it correlates poorly with both the hard and soft X-ray light curves, suggesting that the X-rays alone may not drive the ultraviolet and optical variability over the observing period. We also decompose the light curves into bright, faint, and mean accretion-disk spectra. These spectra lie below that expected for a standard blackbody accretion disk accreting at .
Abstract
While secondary mass inferences based on single-lined spectroscopic binary (SB1) solutions are subject to
sin
i
degeneracies, this degeneracy can be lifted through the observations of ...eclipses. We combine the subset of Gaia Data Release 3 SB1 solutions consistent with brown dwarf-mass secondaries with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Object of Interest (TOI) list to identify three candidate transiting brown dwarf systems. Ground-based precision radial velocity follow-up observations confirm that TOI-2533.01 is a transiting brown dwarf with
M
=
72
−
3
+
3
M
Jup
=
0.069
−
0.003
+
0.003
M
⊙
orbiting TYC 2010-124-1 and that TOI-5427.01 is a transiting very low-mass star with
M
=
93
−
2
+
2
M
Jup
=
0.088
−
0.002
+
0.002
M
⊙
orbiting UCAC4 515-012898. We validate TOI-1712.01 as a very low-mass star with
M
=
82
−
7
+
7
M
Jup
=
0.079
−
0.007
+
0.007
M
⊙
transiting the primary in the hierarchical triple system BD+45 1593. Even after accounting for third light, TOI-1712.01 has a radius nearly a factor of 2 larger than predicted for isolated stars with similar properties. We propose that the intense instellation experienced by TOI-1712.01 diminishes the temperature gradient near its surface, suppresses convection, and leads to its inflated radius. Our analyses verify Gaia DR3 SB1 solutions in the low Doppler semiamplitude limit, thereby providing the foundation for future joint analyses of Gaia radial velocities and Kepler, K2, TESS, and PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations light curves for the characterization of transiting massive brown dwarfs and very low-mass stars.
On reverberation mapping lag uncertainties Yu, Z; Kochanek, C S; Peterson, B M ...
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
02/2020, Letnik:
491, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
ABSTRACT We broadly explore the effects of systematic errors on reverberation mapping lag uncertainty estimates from javelin and the interpolated cross-correlation function (ICCF) method. We focus on ...simulated light curves from random realizations of the light curves of five intensively monitored AGNs. Both methods generally work well even in the presence of systematic errors, although javelin generally provides better error estimates. Poorly estimated light-curve uncertainties have less effect on the ICCF method because, unlike javelin , it does not explicitly assume Gaussian statistics. Neither method is sensitive to changes in the stochastic process driving the continuum or the transfer function relating the line light curve to the continuum. The only systematic error we considered that causes significant problems is if the line light curve is not a smoothed and shifted version of the continuum light curve but instead contains some additional sources of variability.
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