An X-ray and UV flare from the galaxy XMMSL1 J061927.1-655311

R. D. Saxton*, A. M. Read, S. Komossa, P. Rodriguez-Pascual, G. Miniutti, P. Dobbie, P. Esquej, M. Colless, K. W. Bannister

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    24 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Aims. New high variability extragalactic sources may be identified by comparing the flux of sources seen in the XMM-Newton Slew Survey with detections and upper limits from the ROSAT All Sky Survey.

    Methods. A detected flaring extragalactic source was monitored with Swift and XMM-Newton to track its temporal and spectral evolution. Optical and radio observations were made to help classify the galaxy, investigate the reaction of circumnuclear material to the X-ray flare, and check for the presence of a jet.

    Results. In November 2012, X-ray emission was detected from the galaxy XMMSL1 J061927.1-655311 (a.k.a. 2MASX 06192755-6553079), a factor 140 times higher than an upper limit from 20 years earlier. Both the X-ray and UV flux subsequently fell over the following year by factors of 20 and 4, respectively. Optically, the galaxy appears to be a Seyfert I with broad Balmer lines and weak, narrow, low-ionisation emission lines, at a redshift of 0.0729. The X-ray luminosity peaks at LX ∼ 8 × 1043 erg s-1 with a typical Sy I-like power-law X-ray spectrum of Γ ∼ 2. The flare has either been caused by a tidal disruption event or by an increase in the accretion rate of a persistent active galactic nucleus.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article numberA1
    JournalAstronomy and Astrophysics
    Volume572
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2014

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