Discovery of the luminous X-ray ignition eRASSt J234402.9$-$352640; I. Tidal disruption event or a rapid increase in accretion in an active galactic nucleus?

Abstract

In November 2020, a new, bright object, eRASSt J234402.9$-$352640, was discovered in the second all-sky survey of SRG/eROSITA. The object brightened by a factor of at least 150 in 0.2--2.0 keV flux compared to an upper limit found six months previous, reaching an observed peak of $1.76_{-0.24}^{+0.03}\times 10^{-11}$ erg cm${}^{-2}$ s${}^{-1}$. The X-ray ignition is associated with a galaxy at $z=0.10$, making the peak luminosity log${}_{10}(L_{0.2-2keV}/[{\text{erg s}}^{-1}])$=$44.7\pm 0.1$. Around the time of the rise in X-ray flux, the nucleus of the galaxy brightened by approximately 3 mag. in optical photometry, after correcting for the host. We present data from Swift, XMM-Newton, and NICER, which reveal a very soft spectrum as well as strong 0.2--2.0 keV flux variability on multiple timescales. Optical spectra taken in the weeks after the ignition event show a blue continuum with broad, asymmetric Balmer emission lines, and high-ionisation ([OIII]$\lambda \lambda$4959,5007) and low-ionisation ([NII]$\lambda$6585, [SII]$\lambda \lambda$6716,6731) narrow emission lines. Following the peak in the optical light curve, the X-ray, UV, and optical photometry all show a rapid decline. The X-ray light curve shows a decrease in luminosity of $\sim$0.45 over 33 days and the UV shows a drop of $\sim$0.35. eRASSt J234402.9$-$352640 also shows a brightening in the mid-infrared, likely powered by a dust echo of the luminous ignition. We find no evidence in Fermi-LAT $\gamma$-ray data for jet-like emission. The event displays characteristics of a tidal disruption event (TDE) as well as of an active galactic nucleus (AGN), complicating its classification. Based on the softness of the X-ray spectrum, the presence of high-ionisation optical emission lines, and the likely infrared echo, we find that a TDE within a turned-off AGN best matches our observations.

25 pages, 17 figures, 9 tables, Accepted for publication in A&A

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