Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003aas...20311902s&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society Meeting 203, #119.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 35, p.1404
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
We report the discovery of a transient source identified in the central regions of galaxy cluster Abell 267. At discovery, the r ˜ 22 source had the colors of a ``U-band drop-out'', characteristic of star-forming galaxies and quasars at z ˜ 3. Three months later the source had faded by more than three magnitudes. Further observations showed a continued decline in luminosity, to r > 26.4 seven months after discovery. Since the photometry argues against a normal supernova at any redshift, we suggest that this source is likely a z ˜ 3 gravitationally-lensed flare resulting from the tidal disruption of a star by a 106 - 108 solar mass black hole. Flares produced by tidally-disrupted stars have the potential to extend studies of the accretion history of the universe and the relation between black holes and their host galaxies to quiescent galaxies and to very high redshift.
Bloom Josh S.
Ellis Richard S.
Frail Dale A.
Kneib Jean Paul
Nugent Peter
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