PS1-13cbe: the rapid transition of a Seyfert 2 to a Seyfert 1

Katebi, Reza; Chornock, Ryan; Berger, Edo; Jones, David O.; Lunnan, Ragnhild; Margutti, Raffaella; Rest, Armin; Scolnic, Daniel M.; Burgett, William S.; Kaiser, Nick; Kudritzki, Rolf-Peter; Magnier, Eugene A.; Wainscoat, Richard J. und Waters, Christopher (2019): PS1-13cbe: the rapid transition of a Seyfert 2 to a Seyfert 1. In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Bd. 487, Nr. 3: S. 4057-4070

Abstract

We present a nuclear transient event, PS1-13cbe, that was first discovered in the Pan-STARRS1 survey in 2013. The outburst occurred in the nucleus of the galaxy SDSS J222153.87+003054.2 at z = 0.123 55, which was classified as a Seyfert 2 in a pre-outburst archival Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectrum. PS1-13cbe showed the appearance of strong broad H alpha and H beta emission lines and a non-stellar continuum in a Magellan spectrum taken 57 d after the peak of the outburst that resembled the characteristics of a Seyfert 1. These broad lines were not present in the SDSS spectrum taken a decade earlier and faded away within 2 yr, as observed in several late-time MDM spectra. We argue that the dramatic appearance and disappearance of the broad lines and a factor of similar to 8 increase in the optical continuum are most likely caused by variability in the pre-existing accretion disc than a tidal disruption event, supernova, or variable obscuration. The time-scale for the turn-on of the optical emission of similar to 70 d observed in this transient is among the shortest observed in a 'changing-look' active galactic nucleus,

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Physik
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 530 Physik
• ISSN: 0035-8711
• Sprache: Englisch