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Main Authors: Gu, Ying, Li, Xiao, Cheng, Xing-Qian, Wang, Dou-Dou, Zhang, Xue-Guang, Liang, En-Wei
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.25935
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_version_ 1866909816574705664
author Gu, Ying
Li, Xiao
Cheng, Xing-Qian
Wang, Dou-Dou
Zhang, Xue-Guang
Liang, En-Wei
author_facet Gu, Ying
Li, Xiao
Cheng, Xing-Qian
Wang, Dou-Dou
Zhang, Xue-Guang
Liang, En-Wei
contents CSS100217 is considered a peculiar tidal disruption event (TDE) candidate occurring in an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Unlike typical TDEs, where the post-flare luminosity is equal to that pre-flare, CSS100217 decayed to $\sim$ 0.4 magnitudes fainter than its pre-flare V band level. In this manuscript, we propose an obscured TDE model to explain the light curve of CSS100217. Assuming that the time-dependent obscuration, caused by the TDE unbound stellar debris, or by nuclear clouds moving around the supermassive black hole (SMBH), follows a Weibull distribution, we find that the light curve of CSS100217 can be described by the tidal disruption of a $4.6_{-0.9}^{+0.9}{\rm M_\odot}$ main-sequence star by a $3.3_{-0.3}^{+0.3}\times10^7{\rm M_\odot}$ black hole. The total energy of the event derived from our fit is $7.23\times10^{53}$ ergs and about 1.38 ${\rm M_\odot}$ of debris mass is accreted by the central SMBH. The model indicates that the contribution of the host galaxy to the observed pre-flare optical luminosity is not-significant compared to that of the AGN, which is consistent with the results of the spectral analysis. These results suggest that obscuration may play an important role in explaining the unusual TDE-like variability observed in CSS100217.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_25935
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Time-Dependent obscuration of a tidal disruption event candidate in the active galactic nucleus CSS100217
Gu, Ying
Li, Xiao
Cheng, Xing-Qian
Wang, Dou-Dou
Zhang, Xue-Guang
Liang, En-Wei
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Astrophysics of Galaxies
CSS100217 is considered a peculiar tidal disruption event (TDE) candidate occurring in an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Unlike typical TDEs, where the post-flare luminosity is equal to that pre-flare, CSS100217 decayed to $\sim$ 0.4 magnitudes fainter than its pre-flare V band level. In this manuscript, we propose an obscured TDE model to explain the light curve of CSS100217. Assuming that the time-dependent obscuration, caused by the TDE unbound stellar debris, or by nuclear clouds moving around the supermassive black hole (SMBH), follows a Weibull distribution, we find that the light curve of CSS100217 can be described by the tidal disruption of a $4.6_{-0.9}^{+0.9}{\rm M_\odot}$ main-sequence star by a $3.3_{-0.3}^{+0.3}\times10^7{\rm M_\odot}$ black hole. The total energy of the event derived from our fit is $7.23\times10^{53}$ ergs and about 1.38 ${\rm M_\odot}$ of debris mass is accreted by the central SMBH. The model indicates that the contribution of the host galaxy to the observed pre-flare optical luminosity is not-significant compared to that of the AGN, which is consistent with the results of the spectral analysis. These results suggest that obscuration may play an important role in explaining the unusual TDE-like variability observed in CSS100217.
title Time-Dependent obscuration of a tidal disruption event candidate in the active galactic nucleus CSS100217
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.25935