The First Tidal Disruption Flare in ZTF: From Photometric Selection to Multi-wavelength Characterization

Sjoert Van Velzen; Suvi Gezari; S. Bradley Cenko; Erin Kara; James C.A. Miller-Jones; Tiara Hung; Joe Bright; Nathaniel Roth; Nadejda Blagorodnova; Daniela Huppenkothen; Lin Yan; Eran Ofek; Jesper Sollerman; Sara Frederick; Charlotte Ward; Matthew J. Graham; Rob Fender; Mansi M. Kasliwal; Chris Canella; Robert Stein; Matteo Giomi; Valery Brinnel; Jakob Van Santen; Jakob Nordin; Eric C. Bellm; Richard Dekany; Christoffer Fremling; V. Zach Golkhou; Thomas Kupfer; Shrinivas R. Kulkarni; Russ R. Laher; Ashish Mahabal; Frank J. Masci; Adam A. Miller; James D. Neill; Reed Riddle; Mickael Rigault; Ben Rusholme; Maayane T. Soumagnac; Yutaro Tachibana

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aafe0c

The First Tidal Disruption Flare in ZTF: From Photometric Selection to Multi-wavelength Characterization

Sjoert Van Velzen, Suvi Gezari, S. Bradley Cenko, Erin Kara, James C.A. Miller-Jones, Tiara Hung, Joe Bright, Nathaniel Roth, Nadejda Blagorodnova, Daniela Huppenkothen, Lin Yan, Eran Ofek, Jesper Sollerman, Sara Frederick, Charlotte Ward, Matthew J. Graham, Rob Fender, Mansi M. Kasliwal, Chris Canella, Robert SteinMatteo Giomi, Valery Brinnel, Jakob Van Santen, Jakob Nordin, Eric C. Bellm, Richard Dekany, Christoffer Fremling, V. Zach Golkhou, Thomas Kupfer, Shrinivas R. Kulkarni, Russ R. Laher, Ashish Mahabal, Frank J. Masci, Adam A. Miller, James D. Neill, Reed Riddle, Mickael Rigault, Ben Rusholme, Maayane T. Soumagnac, Yutaro Tachibana

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Abstract

We present Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) observations of the tidal disruption flare AT2018zr/PS18kh reported by Holoien et al. and detected during ZTF commissioning. The ZTF light curve of the tidal disruption event (TDE) samples the rise-to-peak exceptionally well, with 50 days of g- and r-band detections before the time of maximum light. We also present our multi-wavelength follow-up observations, including the detection of a thermal (kT ≈ 100 eV) X-ray source that is two orders of magnitude fainter than the contemporaneous optical/UV blackbody luminosity, and a stringent upper limit to the radio emission. We use observations of 128 known active galactic nuclei (AGNs) to assess the quality of the ZTF astrometry, finding a median host-flare distance of 0.″2 for genuine nuclear flares. Using ZTF observations of variability from known AGNs and supernovae we show how these sources can be separated from TDEs. A combination of light-curve shape, color, and location in the host galaxy can be used to select a clean TDE sample from multi-band optical surveys such as ZTF or the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

Original language	English
Article number	198
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	872
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aafe0c
State	Published - 2019
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..

Funding

We thank the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) staff for the rapid scheduling of the VLA observations. NRAO is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. We thank the staff of the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory for their assistance in the operation of AMI. We acknowledge the use of public data from the Swift data archive. This work is based on observations obtained with the Samuel Oschin Telescope 48 inch and the 60 inch Telescope at the Palomar Observatory as part of the Zwicky Transient Facility project. Major funding has been provided by the U.S National Science Foundation under grant No. AST-1440341 and by the ZTF partner institutions: the California Institute of Technology, the Oskar Klein Centre, the Weizmann Institute of Science, the University of Maryland, the University of Washington, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the TANGO Program of the University System of Taiwan.

Funders	Funder number
USNAC
National Science Foundation	1440341, 1616566, 1454816, AST-1440341, 1545949
American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
University of Washington
University of Maryland
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme	759194
European Commission
Australian Research Council	FT140101082

Keywords

accretion, accretion disks
galaxies: nuclei

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10.3847/1538-4357/aafe0c

Cite this

Van Velzen, S., Gezari, S., Cenko, S. B., Kara, E., Miller-Jones, J. C. A., Hung, T., Bright, J., Roth, N., Blagorodnova, N., Huppenkothen, D., Yan, L., Ofek, E., Sollerman, J., Frederick, S., Ward, C., Graham, M. J., Fender, R., Kasliwal, M. M., Canella, C., ... Tachibana, Y. (2019). The First Tidal Disruption Flare in ZTF: From Photometric Selection to Multi-wavelength Characterization. Astrophysical Journal, 872(2), Article 198. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aafe0c

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title = "The First Tidal Disruption Flare in ZTF: From Photometric Selection to Multi-wavelength Characterization",

abstract = "We present Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) observations of the tidal disruption flare AT2018zr/PS18kh reported by Holoien et al. and detected during ZTF commissioning. The ZTF light curve of the tidal disruption event (TDE) samples the rise-to-peak exceptionally well, with 50 days of g- and r-band detections before the time of maximum light. We also present our multi-wavelength follow-up observations, including the detection of a thermal (kT ≈ 100 eV) X-ray source that is two orders of magnitude fainter than the contemporaneous optical/UV blackbody luminosity, and a stringent upper limit to the radio emission. We use observations of 128 known active galactic nuclei (AGNs) to assess the quality of the ZTF astrometry, finding a median host-flare distance of 0.″2 for genuine nuclear flares. Using ZTF observations of variability from known AGNs and supernovae we show how these sources can be separated from TDEs. A combination of light-curve shape, color, and location in the host galaxy can be used to select a clean TDE sample from multi-band optical surveys such as ZTF or the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.",

keywords = "accretion, accretion disks, galaxies: nuclei",

author = "{Van Velzen}, Sjoert and Suvi Gezari and Cenko, {S. Bradley} and Erin Kara and Miller-Jones, {James C.A.} and Tiara Hung and Joe Bright and Nathaniel Roth and Nadejda Blagorodnova and Daniela Huppenkothen and Lin Yan and Eran Ofek and Jesper Sollerman and Sara Frederick and Charlotte Ward and Graham, {Matthew J.} and Rob Fender and Kasliwal, {Mansi M.} and Chris Canella and Robert Stein and Matteo Giomi and Valery Brinnel and Santen, {Jakob Van} and Jakob Nordin and Bellm, {Eric C.} and Richard Dekany and Christoffer Fremling and Golkhou, {V. Zach} and Thomas Kupfer and Kulkarni, {Shrinivas R.} and Laher, {Russ R.} and Ashish Mahabal and Masci, {Frank J.} and Miller, {Adam A.} and Neill, {James D.} and Reed Riddle and Mickael Rigault and Ben Rusholme and Soumagnac, {Maayane T.} and Yutaro Tachibana",

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doi = "10.3847/1538-4357/aafe0c",

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volume = "872",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal",

issn = "0004-637X",

publisher = "American Astronomical Society",

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Van Velzen, S, Gezari, S, Cenko, SB, Kara, E, Miller-Jones, JCA, Hung, T, Bright, J, Roth, N, Blagorodnova, N, Huppenkothen, D, Yan, L, Ofek, E, Sollerman, J, Frederick, S, Ward, C, Graham, MJ, Fender, R, Kasliwal, MM, Canella, C, Stein, R, Giomi, M, Brinnel, V, Santen, JV, Nordin, J, Bellm, EC, Dekany, R, Fremling, C, Golkhou, VZ, Kupfer, T, Kulkarni, SR, Laher, RR, Mahabal, A, Masci, FJ, Miller, AA, Neill, JD, Riddle, R, Rigault, M, Rusholme, B, Soumagnac, MT & Tachibana, Y 2019, 'The First Tidal Disruption Flare in ZTF: From Photometric Selection to Multi-wavelength Characterization', Astrophysical Journal, vol. 872, no. 2, 198. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aafe0c

TY - JOUR

T1 - The First Tidal Disruption Flare in ZTF

T2 - From Photometric Selection to Multi-wavelength Characterization

AU - Van Velzen, Sjoert

AU - Gezari, Suvi

AU - Cenko, S. Bradley

AU - Kara, Erin

AU - Miller-Jones, James C.A.

AU - Hung, Tiara

AU - Bright, Joe

AU - Roth, Nathaniel

AU - Blagorodnova, Nadejda

AU - Huppenkothen, Daniela

AU - Yan, Lin

AU - Ofek, Eran

AU - Sollerman, Jesper

AU - Frederick, Sara

AU - Ward, Charlotte

AU - Graham, Matthew J.

AU - Fender, Rob

AU - Kasliwal, Mansi M.

AU - Canella, Chris

AU - Stein, Robert

AU - Giomi, Matteo

AU - Brinnel, Valery

AU - Santen, Jakob Van

AU - Nordin, Jakob

AU - Bellm, Eric C.

AU - Dekany, Richard

AU - Fremling, Christoffer

AU - Golkhou, V. Zach

AU - Kupfer, Thomas

AU - Kulkarni, Shrinivas R.

AU - Laher, Russ R.

AU - Mahabal, Ashish

AU - Masci, Frank J.

AU - Miller, Adam A.

AU - Neill, James D.

AU - Riddle, Reed

AU - Rigault, Mickael

AU - Rusholme, Ben

AU - Soumagnac, Maayane T.

AU - Tachibana, Yutaro

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - We present Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) observations of the tidal disruption flare AT2018zr/PS18kh reported by Holoien et al. and detected during ZTF commissioning. The ZTF light curve of the tidal disruption event (TDE) samples the rise-to-peak exceptionally well, with 50 days of g- and r-band detections before the time of maximum light. We also present our multi-wavelength follow-up observations, including the detection of a thermal (kT ≈ 100 eV) X-ray source that is two orders of magnitude fainter than the contemporaneous optical/UV blackbody luminosity, and a stringent upper limit to the radio emission. We use observations of 128 known active galactic nuclei (AGNs) to assess the quality of the ZTF astrometry, finding a median host-flare distance of 0.″2 for genuine nuclear flares. Using ZTF observations of variability from known AGNs and supernovae we show how these sources can be separated from TDEs. A combination of light-curve shape, color, and location in the host galaxy can be used to select a clean TDE sample from multi-band optical surveys such as ZTF or the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

AB - We present Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) observations of the tidal disruption flare AT2018zr/PS18kh reported by Holoien et al. and detected during ZTF commissioning. The ZTF light curve of the tidal disruption event (TDE) samples the rise-to-peak exceptionally well, with 50 days of g- and r-band detections before the time of maximum light. We also present our multi-wavelength follow-up observations, including the detection of a thermal (kT ≈ 100 eV) X-ray source that is two orders of magnitude fainter than the contemporaneous optical/UV blackbody luminosity, and a stringent upper limit to the radio emission. We use observations of 128 known active galactic nuclei (AGNs) to assess the quality of the ZTF astrometry, finding a median host-flare distance of 0.″2 for genuine nuclear flares. Using ZTF observations of variability from known AGNs and supernovae we show how these sources can be separated from TDEs. A combination of light-curve shape, color, and location in the host galaxy can be used to select a clean TDE sample from multi-band optical surveys such as ZTF or the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

KW - accretion, accretion disks

KW - galaxies: nuclei

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U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/aafe0c

DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/aafe0c

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SN - 0004-637X

VL - 872

JO - Astrophysical Journal

JF - Astrophysical Journal

IS - 2

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ER -

The First Tidal Disruption Flare in ZTF: From Photometric Selection to Multi-wavelength Characterization

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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