Śniegowska, Marzena and Trakhtenbrot, Benny and Makrygianni, Lydia and Arcavi, Iair and Ricci, Claudio and Faris, Sara and Palit, Biswaraj and Howell, D. Andrew and Newsome, Megan and Farah, Joseph and McCully, Curtis and Padilla-Gonzalez, Estefania and Terreran, Giacomo (2025) AT 2019aalc : A Bowen Fluorescence Flare with a Precursor Flare in an Active Galactic Nucleus. The Astrophysical Journal, 989 (2). ISSN 0004-637X
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
AT 2019aalc is a peculiar sequence of highly variable emission events observed towards the nucleus of the broad-line active galactic nucleus (AGN) SDSS J152416.66+045119.0. The system exhibited two distinct UV-optical flares (the first detected in 2019, the second one in 2023). Spectra obtained following the detection of the second flare revealed prominent Bowen fluorescence (BF) and high-ionization coronal emission lines, which were much weaker, if at all detectable, in a spectrum taken following the first flare. We present and analyze a large set of multi-wavelength, multi-epoch data for this source, with particular emphasis on optical spectroscopic monitoring conducted with the Las Cumbres Observatory network. During the relatively slow dimming that followed the second optical flare, the UV-optical light curve shows a sequence of minor rebrightening events, while the BF and the coronal lines vary (roughly) in tandem with these “bumps” in the broadband light curve. Most of the observed behavior of AT 2019aalc links it to the growing class of BF flares while setting it apart from canonical tidal disruption events. However, AT 2019aalc has some outstanding peculiarities, including two short flares seen in its soft X-ray light-curve during the dimming phase of the second optical flare, and which do not seem to be linked to the emission line variations. We discuss the optical and X-ray properties of the source and possible scenarios of the origin of the flare, in particular radiation pressure instabilities in the (preexisting) AGN accretion disk.