An Amusing Look at the Host of the Periodic Nuclear Transient ASASSN-14ko Reveals a Second AGN

Abstract

We present Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) integral-field spectroscopy of ESO 253$-$G003, which hosts a known Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) and the periodic nuclear transient ASASSN-14ko, observed as part of the All-weather MUse Supernova Integral-field of Nearby Galaxies (AMUSING) survey. The MUSE observations reveal that the inner region hosts two AGN separated by $1.4\pm 0.1\mathrm{kpc}$ ($\approx 1.{}^{\prime \prime }7$). The brighter nucleus has asymmetric broad, permitted emission-line profiles and is associated with the archival AGN designation. The fainter nucleus does not have a broad emission-line component but exhibits other AGN characteristics, including $v_{\mathrm{FWHM}}\approx 700\mathrm{km}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ forbidden line emission, ${\log }_{10}([\mathrm{OIII}]/\mathrm{H}\beta )\approx 1.1$, and high excitation potential emission lines such as [Fe VII]$\lambda 6086$ and He II$\lambda 4686$. The host galaxy exhibits a disturbed morphology with large kpc-scale tidal features, potential outflows from both nuclei, and a likely superbubble. A circular relativistic disk model cannot reproduce the asymmetric broad emission-line profiles in the brighter nucleus, but two non-axisymmetric disk models provide good fits to the broad emission-line profiles: an elliptical disk model and a circular disk + spiral arm model. Implications for the periodic nuclear transient ASASSN-14ko are discussed.

20 pages, 16 figures, and 2 tables. Accepted by MNRAS

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