Unraveling the Nature of the Nuclear Transient AT2020adpi
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866911301082546176 |
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| author | Pandey, Paarmita Hinkle, Jason Kochanek, Christopher Tucker, Michael Reynolds, Mark Neustadt, Jack Thompson, Todd Auchettl, Katie Shappee, Benjamin Do, Aaron Desai, Dhvanil Hoogendam, W. Ashall, C. Lowe, Thomas Shahbandeh, Melissa Payne, Anna |
| author_facet | Pandey, Paarmita Hinkle, Jason Kochanek, Christopher Tucker, Michael Reynolds, Mark Neustadt, Jack Thompson, Todd Auchettl, Katie Shappee, Benjamin Do, Aaron Desai, Dhvanil Hoogendam, W. Ashall, C. Lowe, Thomas Shahbandeh, Melissa Payne, Anna |
| contents | Transient events associated with supermassive black holes provide rare opportunities to study accretion and the environments of supermassive black holes. We present a multiwavelength study of AT2020adpi (ZTF20acvfraq), a luminous optical/UV transient in the nucleus of the galaxy WISEA J231853.77$-$103505.6 ($z=0.26$) that exhibits the properties of an ambiguous nuclear transient. Near peak, its spectral energy distribution is well described by a power law ($λL_λ\propto λ^{-α}$, $α= 0.44 \pm 0.04$), with a maximum $g$-band luminosity of $(3.6 \pm 0.6)\times10^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$, which is consistent with luminous AGN flares. We detect a strong mid-infrared flare ($L_\mathrm{peak}^{\mathrm{MIR}} = (2.3 \pm 0.05)\times10^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$) delayed by $\sim$210 rest-frame days, indicating a hot dust echo from material at $\sim$0.2 pc. The optical and near-infrared spectra show broad H, He I, [OIII] lines, as well as narrow Fe II, and prominent Mg II, which is a combination not typical of TDEs. Taken together, these features suggest AT2020adpi is an ambiguous nuclear transient, where an accretion episode was triggered by stellar disruption of an accretion disk or instabilities within an active nucleus. This source demonstrates the need for careful multiwavelength analysis to distinguish between extreme AGN variability and TDEs. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_03593 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Unraveling the Nature of the Nuclear Transient AT2020adpi Pandey, Paarmita Hinkle, Jason Kochanek, Christopher Tucker, Michael Reynolds, Mark Neustadt, Jack Thompson, Todd Auchettl, Katie Shappee, Benjamin Do, Aaron Desai, Dhvanil Hoogendam, W. Ashall, C. Lowe, Thomas Shahbandeh, Melissa Payne, Anna High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Transient events associated with supermassive black holes provide rare opportunities to study accretion and the environments of supermassive black holes. We present a multiwavelength study of AT2020adpi (ZTF20acvfraq), a luminous optical/UV transient in the nucleus of the galaxy WISEA J231853.77$-$103505.6 ($z=0.26$) that exhibits the properties of an ambiguous nuclear transient. Near peak, its spectral energy distribution is well described by a power law ($λL_λ\propto λ^{-α}$, $α= 0.44 \pm 0.04$), with a maximum $g$-band luminosity of $(3.6 \pm 0.6)\times10^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$, which is consistent with luminous AGN flares. We detect a strong mid-infrared flare ($L_\mathrm{peak}^{\mathrm{MIR}} = (2.3 \pm 0.05)\times10^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$) delayed by $\sim$210 rest-frame days, indicating a hot dust echo from material at $\sim$0.2 pc. The optical and near-infrared spectra show broad H, He I, [OIII] lines, as well as narrow Fe II, and prominent Mg II, which is a combination not typical of TDEs. Taken together, these features suggest AT2020adpi is an ambiguous nuclear transient, where an accretion episode was triggered by stellar disruption of an accretion disk or instabilities within an active nucleus. This source demonstrates the need for careful multiwavelength analysis to distinguish between extreme AGN variability and TDEs. |
| title | Unraveling the Nature of the Nuclear Transient AT2020adpi |
| topic | High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.03593 |