Discovery of late-time X-ray flare and anomalous emission line enhancement after the nuclear optical outburst in a narrow-line Seyfert 1 Galaxy

¹ Department of Physics, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, Anhui 241002, PR China
e-mail: xwshu@mail.ahnu.edu.cn
² CAS Key Laboratory for Researches in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, PR China
e-mail: shengzf@ustc.edu.cn, jnac@ustc.edu.cn
³ Department of Astronomy, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, PR China
⁴ Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650011, PR China

Received: 18 September 2021
Accepted: 13 January 2022

Abstract

CSS J102913+404220 is an atypical narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy with an energetic optical outburst occurring co-spatially with its nucleus. We present a detailed analysis of multi-wavelength photometric and spectroscopic observations of this object covering a period of a decade since outburst. We detect mid-infrared (MIR) flares delayed by about two months relative to the optical outburst and with an extremely high peak luminosity of L_4.6 μm > 10⁴⁴ erg s⁻¹. The MIR peak luminosity is at least an order of magnitude higher than any known supernovae explosions, suggesting the optical outburst might be due to a stellar tidal disruption event (TDE). We find late-time X-ray brightening by a factor of ≳30 with respect to what is observed about 100 days after the optical outburst peak, followed by a flux fading by a factor of ∼4 within two weeks, making it one of the active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with extreme variability. Despite the dramatic X-ray variability, there are no coincident strong flux variations in optical, UV, and MIR bands. This unusual variability behavior has been seen in other highly accreting AGNs and could be attributed to absorption variability. In this scenario, the decrease in the covering factor of the absorber with accretion rate could cause the X-ray brightening, possibly induced by the TDE. Most strikingly, while the UV/optical continuum remains almost unchanged with time, an evident enhancement in the flux of the Hα broad emission line is observed about a decade after the nuclear optical outburst, which is an anomalous behavior never seen in any other AGN. Such an Hα anomaly could be explained by the replenishment of gas clouds and excitation within the broad line region (BLR) that perhaps originates from its interaction with outflowing stellar debris. Our results highlight the importance of the late-time evolution of a TDE, which can affect the accreting properties of the AGN, as suggested by recent simulations.