Tomasz Nowakowski is a writer for Phys.org.
Astronomers from the Ohio State University and other institutions have performed a detailed X-ray observational campaign of a mysterious nuclear event. The results of the study were published on the arXiv pre-print server.
Nuclear astrophysics can be used to understand the synthesis of the chemical elements that evolved after the Big bang. Nuclear Transient events are important in order to advance our knowledge.
The nuclear Transient ZTF19abvgxrq and Gaia19eby was reported on September 1, 2019. The host of this Transient was a narrow-line type I seyfert galaxy at a redshift of 0.096. The features of tidal disruption events and active galactic nuclei were revealed by subsequent observations of this Transient.
In order to see the true nature of AT2019pev, a team led by Zhefu Yu carried out comprehensive X-ray observations. They used NASA's Swift and Chandra and theNICER onboard the International Space Station.
Although Frederick et al (2021) claimed it was an AGN associated Transient, they did not provide a detailed analysis of the available Swift X-ray telescope (XRT) data or other available X-ray data. The researchers presented extensive X-ray observations by Swift, Chandra andNICER over 173 days to further probe the nature of AT2019pev.
The observations show that the X-ray luminosity of AT2019pev increases by a factor of five in five days. After 105 days, it decays by a factor of ten with steep slopes and a weak re-brightening trend.
The X-ray spectrum shows a trend before and after the peak, which seems to suggest a transition of accretion states. They found that the optical light curve rises to an equally bright peak after the discovery of the source, and then fades when the source is observable again.
The astronomer concluded that the Transient more closely resembles an active galactic nucleus by combining the X-ray and multi-wavelength properties. The temporal power-law index is more consistent with AGNs than TDEs. The re-brightening in the UV/optical bands is normal for AGNs with variability.
More information: Zhefu Yu et al, An X-ray View of the Ambiguous Nuclear Transient AT2019pev. arXiv:2205.05097v1 [astro-ph.HE], arxiv.org/abs/2205.05097The Science X Network will be launched in 2022.
Citation: Mysterious nuclear transient AT2019pev inspected in X-rays (2022, May 17) retrieved 17 May 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-05-mysterious-nuclear-transient-at2019pev-x-rays.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
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