J/A+A/695/A228 Catalog of dust-echo-like infrared flares (Necker+, 2025)
Flaires. A comprehensive catalog of dust-echo-like infrared flares.
Necker J., Graikou E., Kowalski M., Franckowiak A., Nordin J., Pernice T.,
van Velzen S., Veres P.M.
<Astron. Astrophys. 695, A228 (2025)>
=2025A&A...695A.228N 2025A&A...695A.228N (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: Galaxies, IR ; Redshifts
Keywords: accretion, accretion disks - catalogs - galaxies: active -
infrared: galaxies
Abstract:
Observations of transient emission from extreme accretion events onto
supermassive black holes can reveal conditions in the center of
galaxies and the black hole itself. Most recently, they have been
suggested to be emitters of high-energy neutrinos. If it is suddenly
rejuvenated accretion or a tidal disruption event (TDE) is not clear
in most cases.
We expanded on existing samples of infrared flares to compile the
largest and most complete list available. A large sample size is
necessary to provide high enough statistics for far away and faint
objects to estimate their rate. Our catalog is large enough to
facilitate a preliminary study of the rate evolution with redshift for
the first time.
We compiled a sample of 40 million galaxies, and, using a custom,
publicly available pipeline, analyzed the WISE light curves for these
40 million objects using the Bayesian Blocks algorithm.We selected
promising candidates for dust echos of transient accretion events and
inferred the luminosity, extension, and temperature of the hot dust by
fitting a blackbody spectrum.
We established a clean sample of 823 dust-echo-like infrared flares of
which we can estimate the dust properties for 568. After removing 70
objects with possible contribution by synchrotron emission, the
luminosity, extension, and temperature are consistent with dust echos.
Estimating the dust extension from the light curve shape revealed that
the duration of the incident flare is broadly compatible with the
duration of TDEs. The resulting rate per galaxy is consistent with the
latest measurements of infrared-detected TDEs and appears to decline
at increasing redshift.
Although systematic uncertainties may impact the calculation of the
rate evolution, this catalog will enable further research in phenomena
related to dust-echos from TDEs and extreme accretion flares.
Description:
The WISE light curves of a sample of 40 million galaxies were analyzed
using the Bayesian Blocks algorithm. 823 promising candidates for dust
echos of transient accretion events were selected. The luminosity,
extension, and temperature of the hot dust were inferred for 568
objects by fitting a blackbody spectrum. After removing 70 objects
with possible contribution by synchrotron emission, the luminosity,
extension, and temperature are consistent with dust echos. Estimating
the dust extension from the light curve shape revealed that the
duration of the incident flare is broadly compatible with the duration
of TDEs. This catalog contains the host galaxy and infrared flare info
for all 823 objects.
The code to reproduce this catalog can be found under
https://gitlab.desy.de/jannisnecker/air_flares.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
tablea1.dat 674 823 Catalog of dust-echo-like infrared flares
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: tablea1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 25 A25 --- Name Host Name
27- 35 F9.5 deg RAdeg Right Ascension (J2000)
37- 45 F9.5 deg DEdeg Declination (J2000)
47- 52 F6.3 --- HW1mag ? Host W1 magnitude (Vega)
54- 59 F6.3 --- HW2mag ? Host W2 magnitude (Vega)
61- 68 I8 --- NEWS ? Index in the NEWS sample
70- 89 A20 --- AllWISE AllWISE Designation of the Host,
JHHMMSS.ss+DDMMSS.s
91-108 I18 --- PS1 ? Object identifier of the host
in Pan-STARRS
112-130 I19 --- AllWISEcntr ? Counter of the host in WISE AllSky
133-156 A24 --- AllWISEDes ? Designation of the host in WISE AllSky,
WISE JHHMMSS.ss+DDMMSS.s
158-164 I7 --- NEDLVSIndex ? Index of the host in NED-LVS
166-190 A25 --- NEDLVSName ? Name of the host in NED-LVS
192-199 I8 --- ParentSamp Index in the Flaires parent galaxy sample
201-209 F9.4 --- z ? Redshift
211-219 F9.4 --- e_z ? Uncertainty of the redshift
221-279 A59 --- r_z ? The source where the redshift value
was taken from
281-286 F6.3 arcsec SDSSdist ? Distance to the associated SDSS object
288-307 A20 --- SDSSclass ? BPT class of the associated SDSS object
309-314 F6.3 arcsec TNSdist ? Distance to the associated TNS object
316-322 A7 --- TNSobjtype ? Type of the associated TNS object
324-334 A11 --- TNSname ? Name of the associated TNS object
336-344 F9.2 --- TNSdate ? Discovery date [MJD] of the associated
TNS object
346-354 F9.2 arcsec milliqdist ? Distance to associated Milliquas object
356-358 A3 --- milliqtype ? Broad Type of the associated Milliquas
object
360-382 A23 --- MirongName Name of the host in the MIRONG sample,
SDSSJHHMMSS.ss+DDMMSS.s
384-394 A11 --- WTPName Name of the object in the WISE Transient
Pipeline TDE sample, WTPNNaaaaaa
396-403 F8.2 d RefTime Observer frame mean peak time in MJD
405-413 F9.2 --- x2W1 Chi2 value w.r.t. the median spectral flux
density in W1
415-416 I2 --- npointsW1 [9/21] Number of detections in W1
418-423 F6.3 mJy FmedW1 Median spectral flux density in W1
425-433 F9.2 --- x2W2 Chi2 value w.r.t. the median spectral flux
density in W2
435-436 I2 --- npointsW2 [9/21] Number of Detections in W2
438-443 F6.3 mJy FmedW2 Median spectral flux density in W2
445-450 F6.3 mJy FbslW1 Measured baseline spectral flux density
in W1
452-457 F6.3 mJy e_FbslW1 1 sigma uncertainty on FbslW1
459-464 F6.3 mJy FbslW2 Measured baseline spectral flux density
in W2
466-471 F6.3 mJy e_FbslW2 1 sigma uncertainty on FbslW2
473-480 F8.2 d startW1 MJD of the first epoch of the determined
excess in W1
482-489 F8.2 d endW1 MJD of the last epoch of the determined
excess in W1
491 I1 --- endedW1 [0/1] True (1) if the last epoch of the
excess in W1 is the last available datapoint
493-500 F8.2 d startW2 MJD of the first epoch of the determined
excess in W2
502-509 F8.2 d endW2 MJD of the last epoch of the determined
excess in W2
511 I1 --- endedW2 [0/1] True (1) if the last epoch of the
excess in W2 is the last available datapoint
513-518 F6.2 --- strengthW1 Dust Echo strength in W1
520-525 F6.2 --- strengthW2 Dust Echo strength in W2
527-531 F5.2 --- varW1 Significance of the extraneous variability
in W1
533-537 F5.2 --- varW2 Significance of the extraneous variability
in W2
539-548 E10.4 mW/m2 MaxFluxW1 Maxium flux density in W1
550-559 E10.4 mW/m2 e_MaxFluxW1 1 sigma uncertainty on MaxFluxW1
561-570 E10.4 mW/m2 MaxFluxW2 Maxium flux density in W2
572-581 E10.4 mW/m2 e_MaxFluxW2 1 sigma uncertainty on MaxFluxW2
583-592 E10.4 mJ/m2 FluenceW1 Integrated flux density in W1
594-603 E10.4 mJ/m2 e_FluenceW1 Uncertainty on FluenceW1 estimated by
performing the integration with
± e_MaxFluxW1
605-614 E10.4 mJ/m2 FluenceW2 Integrated flux density in W1
616-625 E10.4 mJ/m2 e_FluenceW2 Uncertainty on FluenceW2 estimated by
performing the integration with
± e_MaxFluxW2
627-632 F6.2 arcsec Sep Separation of flare data from baseline data
634-643 E10.4 10-7W PeakLbol ? Peak of the bolometric luminosity
645-652 F8.2 d PeakTime ? Rest frame time of the peak of the
bolometric luminosity relative to RefTime
654-663 E10.4 10-7J Ebol ? Total emitted bolometric energy
665-674 E10.4 mJ/m2 Fluencebol ? Total bolometric fluence as
Ebol/4πlumdist2
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Acknowledgements:
Jannis Necker, jannis.necker(at)desy.de
(End) Patricia Vannier [CDS] 15-Feb-2025