The Nascent Milliquasar VT J154843.06+220812.6: Tidal Disruption Event or Extreme Accretion State Change?

Abstract

We present a detailed multiwavelength follow-up of the nuclear radio flare VT J154843.06+220812.6, hereafter VT J1548. VT J1548 was selected as a ∼1 mJy radio flare in 3 GHz observations from the Very Large Array Sky Survey. It is located in the nucleus of a low-mass ( log M BH / M ⊙ ∼ 6 ) host galaxy with weak or no past active galactic nuclei (AGN) activity. VT J1548 is associated with a slow rising (multiple year), bright mid-IR flare in the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer survey, peaking at ∼10% L edd. . No associated optical transient is detected, although we cannot rule out a short, early optical flare given the limited data available. Constant late-time (∼3 yr post-flare) X-ray emission is detected at ∼10 42 erg s −1 . The radio spectral energy distribution is consistent with synchrotron emission from an outflow incident on an asymmetric medium. A follow-up, optical spectrum shows transient, bright, high-ionization coronal line emission ([Fe x i ] λ 6375, [Fe x i ] λ 7894, [S x i i ] λ 7612). Transient broad H α is also detected but without corresponding broad H β emission, suggesting high nuclear extinction. We interpret this event as either a tidal disruption event or an extreme flare of an AGN, in both cases obscured by a dusty torus. Although these individual properties have been observed in previous transients, the combination is unprecedented. This event highlights the importance of searches across all wave bands for assembling a sample of nuclear flares that spans the range of observable properties and possible triggers.