https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20123908001
A unique UV flare in the optical light curve of the quasar J004457.9+412344
1 Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Germany
2 Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik Garching, Germany
3 Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie Heidelberg, Germany
4 University of Washington, Seattle, USA
5 University of Athens, Greece
6 University of Roma La Sapienza, Italy
7 Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Germany
8 University Bern, Switzerland
9 Sternwarte Sonneberg, Germany
10 University Leipzig, Germany
a e-mail: meus@tls-tautenburg.de
We found that the nova candidate J004457.9+412344 is a radio-quiet quasar at z ∼ 2. Its optical long-term light curve, covering more than half a century, shows quasar typical flux variations superimposed by a spectacular single flare lasting more than one year (observer frame). We could not find comparable light curves among the several thousand catalogued radio-quiet quasars in the stripe 82 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The decreasing part of the flare light curve roughly follows a power law t−5/3. The quasar spectrum, the total energy of the flare, and the decline of the light curve are consistent with the tidal disruption of a ∼10 Mʘ giant star by a supermassive black hole of a few 108 Mʘ. We argue that the alternative explanation by gravitational microlensing is less likely, though it cannot be definitely excluded.
© Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2012
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
