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Wind-reprocessed Transients

Piro, Anthony L. and Lu, Wenbin (2020) Wind-reprocessed Transients. Astrophysical Journal, 894 (1). Art. No. 2. ISSN 1538-4357. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab83f6. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20200429-105052168

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Abstract

We consider the situation where the luminosity from a transient event is reprocessed by an optically thick wind. Potential applications are the tidal disruption of stars by black holes (BHs), engine-powered supernovae, and unique fast transients found by current and future wide-field surveys. We derive relations between the injected and observed luminosity for steady and time-dependent winds, and discuss how the temperature is set for scattering-dominated radiative transport. We apply this framework to specific examples of tidal disruption events and the formation of a BH by a massive star, as well as discuss other applications such as deriving observables from detailed hydrodynamic simulations. We conclude by exploring what is inferred about the mass-loss rate and underlying engine powering AT 2018cow if it is explained as a wind-reprocessed transient, demonstrating that its optical emission is consistent with reprocessing of the observed soft X-rays.


Item Type:Article
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab83f6DOIArticle
https://arxiv.org/abs/2001.08770arXivDiscussion Paper
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Piro, Anthony L.0000-0001-6806-0673
Lu, Wenbin0000-0002-1568-7461
Additional Information:© 2020 The American Astronomical Society. Received 2020 January 22; revised 2020 March 25; accepted 2020 March 25; published 2020 April 29. We thank the anonymous referee for a careful reading of our work and helpful feedback. We thank Sterl Phinney and Anna Ho for useful discussions on AT 2018cow. W.L. is supported by the David and Ellen Lee Fellowship at Caltech.
Group:TAPIR, Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
David and Ellen Lee Postdoctoral ScholarshipUNSPECIFIED
Subject Keywords:Black hole physics ; Radiative transfer ; Supernovae
Issue or Number:1
Classification Code:Unified Astronomy Thesaurus concepts: Black hole physics (159); Radiative transfer (1335); Supernovae (1668)
DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/ab83f6
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20200429-105052168
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20200429-105052168
Official Citation:Anthony L. Piro and Wenbin Lu 2020 ApJ 894 2
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:102904
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: Tony Diaz
Deposited On:29 Apr 2020 18:37
Last Modified:16 Nov 2021 18:16

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