Intermediate luminosity optical transient

An Intermediate Luminosity Optical Transient (ILOT) is an astronomical object which undergoes an optically detectable explosive event with an absolute magnitude (M) brighter than a classical nova (M ~ −8) but fainter than that of a supernova (M ~ −17). That nine magnitude range corresponds to a factor of nearly 4000 in luminosity, so the ILOT class may include a wide variety of objects. The term ILOT first appeared in a 2009 paper discussing the nova-like event NGC 300 OT2008-1.[1] As the term has gained more widespread use,[2] it has begun to be applied to some objects like KjPn 8 and CK Vulpeculae for which no transient event has been observed, but which may have been dramatically affected by an ILOT event in the past.[3][4] The number of ILOTs known is expected to increase substantially when the Vera C. Rubin Observatory becomes operational.

A very wide variety of objects have been classified as ILOTs in the astronomical literature. Kashi and Soker proposed a model for the outburt of ASASSN-15qi,[5] in which a Jupiter-mass planet is tidally destroyed and accreted onto a young main sequence star.[6] Luminous red novae, believed be caused by the merger of two stars, are classified as ILOTs.[7] Some luminous blue variables, such as η Car have been classified as ILOTs.[8] Some objects which have been classified as failed supernovae may be ILOTs.[9] The common thread tying all of these objects together is a transfer of a large amount of mass (0.001 M to a few M) from a planet or star to a companion star, over a short period of time, leading to a massive eruption. That large range in accretion mass explains the large range in ILOT event brightness.[10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Berger, E.; Soderberg, A.M.; Chevalier, R.A.; Fransson, C.; Foley, R.J.; Leonard, D.C.; Debes, J.H.; Diamond-Stanic, A.M.; Dupree, A.K.; Ivans, I.I.; Simmerer, J.; Thompson, I.B.; Tremont, C.A. (July 2009). "An Intermediate Luminosity Transient in NGC 300: The Eruption of a Dust-Enshrouded Massive Star". The Astrophysical Journal. 699 (2): 1850–1865. arXiv:0901.0710. Bibcode:2009ApJ...699.1850B. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/699/2/1850. S2CID 15626502.
  2. ^ "ADS search for Intermediate Luminosity Optical Transients". Astrophysics Data System. NASA / CfA. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  3. ^ Boumis, P.; Meaburn, J. (19 February 2013). "The expansion proper motions of the extraordinary giant lobes of the planetary nebula KjPn 8 revisited". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 430 (4): 3397–3405. arXiv:1301.5589. Bibcode:2013MNRAS.430.3397B. doi:10.1093/mnras/stt138. S2CID 118404240.
  4. ^ Banerjee, D. P. K.; Geballe, T. R.; Evans, A.; Shahbandeh, M.; Woodward, C. E.; Gehrz, R. D.; Eyres, S. P. S.; Starrfield, S.; Zijlstra, A. (2020). "Near-infrared Spectroscopy of CK Vulpeculae: Revealing a Remarkably Powerful Blast from the Past". The Astrophysical Journal. 904 (2): L23. arXiv:2011.02939. Bibcode:2020ApJ...904L..23B. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/abc885. S2CID 226254757.
  5. ^ Herczeg, Gregory J.; Dong, Subo; Shappee, Benjamin J.; Chen, Ping; Hillenbrand, Lynne A.; Jose, Jessy; Kochanek, Christopher S.; Prieto, Jose L.; Stanek, K.Z.; Kaplan, Kyle; Holoien, Thomas W. S.; Mairs, Steve; Johnstone, Doug; Gully-Santiago, Michael; Zhu, Zhaohuan; Smith, Martin C.; Bersier, David; Mulders, Gijs D.; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Ayani, Kazuya; Brimacombe, Joseph; Brown, Jonathan S.; Connelley, Michael; Harmanen, Jussi; Itoh, Ryosuke; Kawabata, Koji S.; Maehara, Hiroyuki; Takata, Koji; Yuk, Heechan; Zheng, WeiKang (November 2020). "The Eruption of the Candidate Young Star ASASSN-15QI". The Astrophysical Journal. 831 (2): 133. doi:10.3847/0004-637X/831/2/133. hdl:10150/622161. S2CID 37563074.
  6. ^ Kashi, Amit; Soker, Noam (July 2017). "An intermediate luminosity optical transient (ILOTs) model for the youngstellar object ASASSN-15qi". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 468 (4): 4938–4943. arXiv:1609.00931. Bibcode:2017MNRAS.468.4938K. doi:10.1093/mnras/stx767. S2CID 85458108.
  7. ^ Kamiński, T.; Steffen, W.; Tylenda, R.; Young, K.H.; Patel, N.A.; Menten, K.M. (October 2018). "Submillimeter-wave emission of three Galactic red novae: cool molecular outflows produced by stellar mergers". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 617: A129. arXiv:1804.01610. Bibcode:2018A&A...617A.129K. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201833165. S2CID 54746871.
  8. ^ Soker, Noam (April 2020). "Efficiently Jet-powered Radiation in Intermediate-luminosity Optical Transients". The Astrophysical Journal. 893 (1): 20. arXiv:2001.07879. Bibcode:2020ApJ...893...20S. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab7dbb. S2CID 210859362.
  9. ^ Kashi, Amit; Soker, Noam (May 2017). "Type II intermediate-luminosity optical transients (ILOTs)". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 467 (3): 3299–3305. arXiv:1611.05855. Bibcode:2017MNRAS.467.3299K. doi:10.1093/mnras/stx240. S2CID 118957355.
  10. ^ Soker, Noam; Kashi, Amit (2011). The Energy Source of Intermediate Luminosity Optical Transients. Intermediate-Luminosity Red Transients meeting, STScI, Baltimore, USA, June 28–30, 2011. arXiv:1107.3454.
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