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Minutes-duration optical flares with supernova luminosities.
- Source :
-
Nature [Nature] 2023 Nov; Vol. 623 (7989), pp. 927-931. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Nov 15. - Publication Year :
- 2023
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Abstract
- In recent years, certain luminous extragalactic optical transients have been observed to last only a few days <superscript>1</superscript> . Their short observed duration implies a different powering mechanism from the most common luminous extragalactic transients (supernovae), whose timescale is weeks <superscript>2</superscript> . Some short-duration transients, most notably AT2018cow (ref. <superscript>3</superscript> ), show blue optical colours and bright radio and X-ray emission <superscript>4</superscript> . Several AT2018cow-like transients have shown hints of a long-lived embedded energy source <superscript>5</superscript> , such as X-ray variability <superscript>6,7</superscript> , prolonged ultraviolet emission <superscript>8</superscript> , a tentative X-ray quasiperiodic oscillation <superscript>9,10</superscript> and large energies coupled to fast (but subrelativistic) radio-emitting ejecta <superscript>11,12</superscript> . 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 probably 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.<br /> (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1476-4687
- Volume :
- 623
- Issue :
- 7989
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Nature
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 37968403
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06673-6