A massive galaxy cluster can serve as a magnifying glass for distant stellar populations, as strong gravitational lensing magnifies background galaxies and exposes details that are otherwise undetectable. In time-domain astronomy, imaging programmes with a short cadence are able to detect rapidly evolving transients, previously unseen by surveys designed for slowly evolving supernovae. Here, we describe two unusual transient events discovered in a Hubble Space Telescope programme that combined these techniques with high-cadence imaging on a field with a strong-lensing galaxy cluster. These transients were faster and fainter than any supernovae, but substantially more luminous than a classical nova. We find that they can be explained as separate eruptions of a luminous blue variable star or a recurrent nova, or as an unrelated pair of stellar microlensing events. To distinguish between these hypotheses will require clarification of the cluster lens models, along with more high-cadence imaging of the field that could detect related transient episodes. This discovery suggests that the intersection of strong lensing with high-cadence transient surveys may be a fruitful path for future astrophysical transient studies.
Two peculiar fast transients in a strongly lensed host galaxy / S.A. Rodney, I. Balestra, M. Bradac, G. Brammer, T. Broadhurst, G.B. Caminha, G. Chirivì, J.M. Diego, A.V. Filippenko, R.J. Foley, O. Graur, C. Grillo, S. Hemmati, J. Hjorth, A. Hoag, M. Jauzac, S.W. Jha, R. Kawamata, P.L. Kelly, C. Mccully, B. Mobasher, A. Molino, M. Oguri, J. Richard, A.G. Riess, P. Rosati, K.B. Schmidt, J. Selsing, K. Sharon, L.-. Strolger, S.H. Suyu, T. Treu, B.J. Weiner, L.L.R. Williams, A. Zitrin. - In: NATURE ASTRONOMY. - ISSN 2397-3366. - 2:4(2018 Apr), pp. 324-333.
Two peculiar fast transients in a strongly lensed host galaxy
C. Grillo;
2018
Abstract
A massive galaxy cluster can serve as a magnifying glass for distant stellar populations, as strong gravitational lensing magnifies background galaxies and exposes details that are otherwise undetectable. In time-domain astronomy, imaging programmes with a short cadence are able to detect rapidly evolving transients, previously unseen by surveys designed for slowly evolving supernovae. Here, we describe two unusual transient events discovered in a Hubble Space Telescope programme that combined these techniques with high-cadence imaging on a field with a strong-lensing galaxy cluster. These transients were faster and fainter than any supernovae, but substantially more luminous than a classical nova. We find that they can be explained as separate eruptions of a luminous blue variable star or a recurrent nova, or as an unrelated pair of stellar microlensing events. To distinguish between these hypotheses will require clarification of the cluster lens models, along with more high-cadence imaging of the field that could detect related transient episodes. This discovery suggests that the intersection of strong lensing with high-cadence transient surveys may be a fruitful path for future astrophysical transient studies.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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