A Dust-Enshrouded Tidal Disruption Event in a Luminous Infared Galaxy
Abstract
This paper presented the discovery of an energetic nuclear transient from near-infrared monitoring of nearby starburst and luminous infrared galaxies. The transient radiated at least 1.5E+52 erg in the infrared but remained elusive at optical and X-ray wavelengths. We interpret its properties as arising from a stellar tidal disruption event (TDE) close to a supermassive black hole. Much of its emission must have been reprocessed by dense gas and re-radiated at infrared wavelengths by dust, suggesting a way for reducing the tension between theoretical luminosity predictions and observations of TDEs. Such events are not detectable by optical, UV or soft X-ray observations, and might represent just the tip of the iceberg of a missed TDE population in the local Universe. That population could be more numerous at higher redshifts where luminous infrared galaxies are more common.
- Publication:
-
Southern Horizons in Time-Domain Astronomy
- Pub Date:
- August 2019
- DOI:
- 10.1017/S1743921318002235
- Bibcode:
- 2019IAUS..339...65M
- Keywords:
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- Radio continuum: transients;
- radio continuum: stars;
- surveys