Minutes-duration Optical Flares with Supernova Luminosities. (arXiv:2311.10195v1 [astro-ph.HE])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Ho_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Anna Y. Q. Ho</a> (1), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Perley_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">Daniel A. Perley</a> (2), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Chen_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">Ping Chen</a> (3), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Schulze_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Steve Schulze</a> (4), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Dhillon_V/0/1/0/all/0/1">Vik Dhillon</a> (5,6), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kumar_H/0/1/0/all/0/1">Harsh Kumar</a> (7), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Suresh_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Aswin Suresh</a> (7), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Swain_V/0/1/0/all/0/1">Vishwajeet Swain</a> (7), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bremer_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Michael Bremer</a> (8), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Smartt_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Stephen J. Smartt</a> (9,10), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Anderson_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Joseph P. Anderson</a> (11,12), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Anupama_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">G. C. Anupama</a> (13), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Awiphan_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Supachai Awiphan</a> (14), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Barway_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Sudhanshu Barway</a> (13), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bellm_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">Eric C. Bellm</a> (15), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Ben_Ami_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Sagi Ben-Ami</a> (3), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bhalerao_V/0/1/0/all/0/1">Varun Bhalerao</a> (7), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Boer_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">Thomas de Boer</a> (16), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Brink_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">Thomas G. Brink</a> (17), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Burruss_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Rick Burruss</a> (18), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Chandra_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">Poonam Chandra</a> (19), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Chen_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">Ting-Wan Chen</a> (20,21), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Chen_W/0/1/0/all/0/1">Wen-Ping Chen</a> (22), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Cooke_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">Jeff Cooke</a> (23,24,25), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Coughlin_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Michael W. Coughlin</a> (26), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Das_K/0/1/0/all/0/1">Kaustav K. Das</a> (27), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Drake_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Andrew J. Drake</a> (27), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Filippenko_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Alexei V. Filippenko</a> (17), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Freeburn_J/0/1/0/all/0/1">James Freeburn</a> (23,24), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Fremling_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Christoffer Fremling</a> (18,28), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Fulton_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Michael D. Fulton</a> (10), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Gal_Yam_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Avishay Gal-Yam</a> (3), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Galbany_L/0/1/0/all/0/1">Lluís Galbany</a> (29,30), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Gao_H/0/1/0/all/0/1">Hua Gao</a> (16), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Graham_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Matthew J. Graham</a> (28), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Gromadzki_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Mariusz Gromadzki</a> (31), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Gutierrez_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Claudia P. Gutiérrez</a> (30,29), et al. (40 additional authors not shown)
In recent years, certain luminous extragalactic optical transients have been
observed to last only a few days. Their short observed duration implies a
different powering mechanism from the most common luminous extragalactic
transients (supernovae) whose timescale is weeks. Some short-duration
transients, most notably AT2018cow, display blue optical colours and bright
radio and X-ray emission. Several AT2018cow-like transients have shown hints of
a long-lived embedded energy source, such as X-ray variability, prolonged
ultraviolet emission, a tentative X-ray quasiperiodic oscillation, and large
energies coupled to fast (but subrelativistic) radio-emitting ejecta. Here we
report observations of minutes-duration optical flares in the aftermath of an
AT2018cow-like transient, AT2022tsd (the “Tasmanian Devil”). The flares occur
over a period of months, are highly energetic, and are likely nonthermal,
implying that they arise from a near-relativistic outflow or jet. Our
observations confirm that in some AT2018cow-like transients the embedded energy
source is a compact object, either a magnetar or an accreting black hole.
In recent years, certain luminous extragalactic optical transients have been
observed to last only a few days. Their short observed duration implies a
different powering mechanism from the most common luminous extragalactic
transients (supernovae) whose timescale is weeks. Some short-duration
transients, most notably AT2018cow, display blue optical colours and bright
radio and X-ray emission. Several AT2018cow-like transients have shown hints of
a long-lived embedded energy source, such as X-ray variability, prolonged
ultraviolet emission, a tentative X-ray quasiperiodic oscillation, and large
energies coupled to fast (but subrelativistic) radio-emitting ejecta. Here we
report observations of minutes-duration optical flares in the aftermath of an
AT2018cow-like transient, AT2022tsd (the “Tasmanian Devil”). The flares occur
over a period of months, are highly energetic, and are likely nonthermal,
implying that they arise from a near-relativistic outflow or jet. Our
observations confirm that in some AT2018cow-like transients the embedded energy
source is a compact object, either a magnetar or an accreting black hole.
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