Radio detection of the tidal disruption event AT2021yte
ATel #15160; Adelle J. Goodwin (ICRAR - Curtin), James C. A. Miller-Jones (ICRAR - Curtin), Kate D. Alexander (Northwestern U.), and Sjoert van Velzen (Leiden U.), on behalf of a larger collaboration
on 12 Jan 2022; 02:52 UT
Credential Certification: Adelle Goodwin (adelle.goodwin@curtin.edu.au)
Subjects: Radio, Transient, Tidal Disruption Event
Referred to by ATel #: 15164
We report new radio observations of the tidal disruption event (TDE) AT2021yte taken as part of our VLA Large Program dedicated to TDEs. AT2021yte was first discovered as ZTF21acafvhf on 2021 September 12, an optical flare from the host galaxy SDSS J065504.74+123802.8 (TNS Astronomical Transient Report No. 123252 by ALeRCE). It was later classified as a TDE with broad hydrogen and He II emission lines at a redshift of z=0.053 by ZTF (TNS Classification Report No. 11136).
We observed AT2021yte with NSF's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), on 2021 December 21 UT. The data were reduced in CASA using standard procedures. We detected radio emission consistent with the optical position, with a flux density of 184+/-4 uJy at 15 GHz. Further radio observations to constrain the broadband spectrum of the source have been scheduled with the VLA. We encourage additional multi-wavelength follow up of this interesting source.
Our VLA Large Program (20B-377) began in December 2020 and will continue until 2023. We plan to target new publicly-reported TDEs discovered at z < 0.1, to determine the prevalence of radio emission in TDEs. We will report new results from this program to the community via ATels, TNS AstroNotes, and on our program website (https://sites.northwestern.edu/radiotdes/). For collaboration, or to suggest new targets, please contact the program PI (Kate Alexander, kate.alexander@northwestern.edu) or one of the program co-Is.
