AT 2021lwx explained

AT 2021lwx (also known as ZTF20abrbeie or "Scary Barbie"^[1]) is the most energetic non-quasar optical transient astronomical event ever observed, with a peak luminosity of 7 × 10⁴⁵ erg per second (erg s⁻¹) and a total radiated energy between 9.7 × 10⁵² erg to 1.5 × 10⁵³ erg over three years.^[2] Despite being lauded as the largest explosion ever, GRB 221009A was both more energetic and brighter. It was first identified in imagery obtained on 13 April 2021 by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) astronomical survey^[3] and is believed to be due to the accretion of matter into a super massive black hole (SMBH) heavier than one hundred million solar masses .^{[2] [4]} It has a redshift of z = 0.9945,^[2] which would place it at a distance of about eight billion light-years from earth,^[4] and is located in the constellation Vulpecula.^[5] No host galaxy has been detected.^[2]

Forced photometry of earlier ZTF imagery showed AT 2021lwx had already begun brightening by 16 June 2020, as ZTF20abrbeie. It was also detected independently in data from the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) as ATLAS20bkdj, and the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) as PS22iin. At the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, X-ray observations were made with the X-ray Telescope and ultraviolet, with the Ultraviolet-Optical Telescope (UVOT).^[2]

Subrayan et al. originally interpreted it to be a tidal disruption event between an SMBH (~10⁸) and a massive star (~14). Wiseman et al. disfavor this interpretation, and instead believe the most likely scenario is "the sudden accretion of a large amount of gas, potentially a giant molecular cloud" (~1,000),^[6] onto an SMBH (>10⁸).^[7]

The inferred mass of the SMBH, based on the light to mass ratio, is about 1 hundred million - 1 billion solar masses, given the observed brightness. However, the theoretical limit for an accreting super massive black hole is 1 hundred million solar masses. Given the best understood model of accreting SMBH's, this even may be the most massive SMBH to possibly accrete matter.^[8]

See also

• Ophiuchus Supercluster eruption, a 5 × 10⁶¹-erg event that may have occurred up to 240 million years ago, revealed by a giant radio fossil
• MS 0735.6+7421, a 10⁶¹-erg eruption that has been occurring for the last 100 million years
• GRB 080916C, an 8.8 × 10⁵⁴-erg gamma-ray burst seen in 2008^[9]
• GRB 221009A, a 1.2 × 10⁵⁵-erg gamma-ray burst seen in 2023^[10]

Notes and References

1. Subrayan . Bhagya M. . Milisavljevic . Dan . Chornock . Ryan . Margutti . Raffaella . Alexander . Kate D. . Ramakrishnan . Vandana . Duffell . Paul C. . Dickinson . Danielle A. . Lee . Kyoung-Soo . Giannios . Dimitrios . Lentner . Geoffery . Linvill . Mark . Garretson . Braden . Graham . Matthew J. . Stern . Daniel . 2023-05-10 . Scary Barbie: An Extremely Energetic, Long-duration Tidal Disruption Event Candidate without a Detected Host Galaxy at z = 0.995 . The Astrophysical Journal Letters . 948 . 2 . L19 . 2302.10932 . 2023ApJ...948L..19S . 10.3847/2041-8213/accf1a . 2041-8205 . free.
2. Wiseman . p. . Wang . Y. . Hönig . S. . Castero-Segura . N. . Clark . P. . Frohmaier . C. . Fulton . M. D. . Leloudas . G. . Middleton . M. . Müller-Bravo . T. E. . Mummery . A. . Pursiainen . M . Smartt . S. J. . Smith . K. . Sullivan . M. . 11 April 2023 . Multiwavelength observations of the extraordinary accretion event AT 2021lwx . . 522 . 3 . 3992–4002 . 2303.04412 . 10.1093/mnras/stad1000 . free.
3. J. Nordin, V. Brinnel, J. van Santen, A. Gal-Yam, O. Yaron, S. Schulze (10 May 2021). "Discovery certificate for object 2021lwx". IAU Transient Name Server.
4. News: Overbye . Dennis . Dennis Overbye . The Biggest Explosion in the Cosmos Just Keeps Going - For three years, telescopes have monitored "one of the most luminous" events ever: a supermassive black hole consuming a gigantic cloud of interstellar gas. . 12 May 2023 . . live . https://archive.today/20230512191540/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/12/science/astronomy-black-hole.html . 12 May 2023 . 13 May 2023 .
5. Web site: Kahlon . Gurjeet . 5 November 2023 . Astronomers reveal the largest cosmic explosion ever seen . Royal Astronomical Society . 11 May 2023 .
6. Web site: 2023-05-11 . This Is The Largest Cosmic Explosion In The Universe Ever Seen . 2023-05-15 . IFLScience . en.
7. Web site: 'Terrifying': Why the universe's largest cosmic explosion is called 'Scary Barbie' . 2023-05-15 . USA TODAY . en-US.
8. 2019-02-20 . Weighing Black Holes Using Tidal Disruption Events . 10.3847/1538-4357/ab010f . en-us . free . Mockler . Brenna . Guillochon . James . Ramirez-Ruiz . Enrico . The Astrophysical Journal . 872 . 2 . 151 . 1801.08221 . 2019ApJ...872..151M .
9. Fermi LAT and Fermi GBM Collaborations . 27 March 2009 . Fermi Observations of High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission from GRB 080916C . Science . 323 . 5922 . 1688–1693 . 10.1126/science.1169101 . 19228997 . 2009Sci...323.1688A . 263421340 . free .
10. Burns . Eric . Svinkin . Dmitry . Fenimore . Edward . Kann . D. Alexander . Agüí Fernández . José Feliciano . Frederiks . Dmitry . Hamburg . Rachel . Lesage . Stephen . Temiraev . Yuri . Tsvetkova . Anastasia . Bissaldi . Elisabetta . Briggs . Michael S. . Dalessi . Sarah . Dunwoody . Rachel . Fletcher . Cori . 2023-03-01 . GRB 221009A: The BOAT . The Astrophysical Journal Letters . 946 . 1 . L31 . 10.3847/2041-8213/acc39c . 2302.14037 . 2023ApJ...946L..31B . 2041-8205 . free .