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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
earth and planetary sciences
IPTF16fnl: A Faint and Fast Tidal Disruption Event in an E+A Galaxy
Astrophysical Journal, Volume 844, No. 1, Article 46, Year 2017
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Description
We present ground-based and Swift observations of iPTF16fnl, a likely tidal disruption event (TDE) discovered by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) survey at 66.6 Mpc. The light curve of the object peaked at an absolute mag Mg = -17.2. The maximum bolometric luminosity (from optical and UV) was Lp ≃ (1.0 ± 0.15) × 1043erg s-1, an order of magnitude fainter than any other optical TDE discovered so far. The luminosity in the first 60 days is consistent with an exponential decay, with L ∝ e-(t-t0)/τ, where t0 = 57631.0 (MJD) and τ ≃ 15 days. The X-ray shows a marginal detection at LX = 2.41.9 -1.1 × 1039 erg s-1 (Swift X-ray Telescope). No radio counterpart was detected down to 3σ, providing upper limits for monochromatic radio luminosities of νLν < 1.7 × 1036 erg s-1 and νLν < 2.3 × 1037 erg s-1 (Very Large Array, 6.1 and 22 GHz). The blackbody temperature, obtained from combined Swift UV and optical photometry, shows a constant value of 19,000 K. The transient spectrum at peak is characterized by broad He ii and Hα emission lines, with FWHMs of about 14,000 km s-1 and 10,000 km s-1, respectively. He i lines are also detected at λλ 5875 and 6678. The spectrum of the host is dominated by strong Balmer absorption lines, which are consistent with a post-starburst (E+A) galaxy with an age of ∼650 Myr and solar metallicity. The characteristics of iPTF16fnl make it an outlier on both luminosity and decay timescales, as compared to other optically selected TDEs. The discovery of such a faint optical event suggests a higher rate of tidal disruptions, as low-luminosity events may have gone unnoticed in previous searches. © 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Authors & Co-Authors
Blagorodnova, Nadia
United States, Pasadena
California Institute of Technology
Gezari, Suvi
United States, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park
Hung, Tiara
United States, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park
Kulkarni, Shrinivas R.
United States, Pasadena
California Institute of Technology
Cenko, Stephen Bradley
United States, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park
United States, Greenbelt
Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center
Pasham, Dheeraj R.
United States, Cambridge
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Yan, Lin
United States, Pasadena
California Institute of Technology
Arcavi, Iair
United States, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
United States, Santa Barbara
Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, Inc
Cantwell, Therese M.
United Kingdom, Manchester
The University of Manchester
Cao, Yi
United States, Seattle
University of Washington
Castro-Tirado, A. J.
Spain, Granada
Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía - Csic
Spain, Malaga
Universidad de Málaga
Fender, Robert P.
United Kingdom, Oxford
University of Oxford
Fremling, Christoffer U.
Sweden, Stockholm
Oskar Klein Centre
Gal-Yam, Avishay
Israel, Rehovot
Weizmann Institute of Science Israel
Ho, Anna Y.Q.
United States, Pasadena
California Institute of Technology
Horesh, Assaf
Israel, Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hosseinzadeh, Griffin
United States, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
United States, Santa Barbara
Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, Inc
Kasliwal, Rachna
United States, Pasadena
California Institute of Technology
Kong, Albert K.H.
United Kingdom, Oxford
University of Oxford
Taiwan, Hsinchu
National Tsing Hua University
Laher, Russ R.
Unknown Affiliation
Leloudas, Giorgos
Israel, Rehovot
Weizmann Institute of Science Israel
Denmark, Copenhagen
Københavns Universitet
Lunnan, Ragnhild
United States, Pasadena
California Institute of Technology
Sweden, Stockholm
Oskar Klein Centre
Masci, Frank J.
Unknown Affiliation
Mooley, Kunal P.
United Kingdom, Oxford
University of Oxford
Neill, James Don
United States, Pasadena
California Institute of Technology
Nugent, Peter E.
United States, Berkeley
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
United States, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
Valeev, Azamat F.
Russian Federation, Nizhny Arkhyz
Special Astrophysical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences
Vreeswijk, Paul M.
Israel, Rehovot
Weizmann Institute of Science Israel
Walters, Richard S.
United States, Pasadena
California Institute of Technology
Woźniak, Prezemysław R.
United States, Los Alamos
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Statistics
Citations: 106
Authors: 30
Affiliations: 22
Identifiers
Doi:
10.3847/1538-4357/aa7579
ISSN:
0004637X
Research Areas
Environmental
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Quantitative