Dust Echoes from Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transients
Brian D. Metzger, Daniel Perley

TL;DR
This paper proposes that dust formation in the circumstellar material of LFBOTs causes observable infrared echoes and affects their early light curves, providing new insights into their progenitors and environments.
Contribution
It introduces a model where dust in the CSM explains the NIR excess and color evolution of LFBOTs, linking dust formation to observable signatures.
Findings
Dust grains up to ~1 micron can form in the outflow before explosion.
Dust re-radiation creates a detectable NIR echo lasting weeks.
The NIR excess in AT2018cow can be explained by this dust echo.
Abstract
Luminous fast blue optical transients (LFBOTs) such as AT2018cow form a rare class of engine-powered explosions of uncertain origin. A hallmark feature of these events is radio/millimeter synchrotron emission powered by the interaction of fast (v > 0.1 c) ejecta and dense circumstellar material (CSM) extending to large radii > 1e16 cm surrounding the progenitor. Assuming this CSM to be an outflow from the progenitor, we show that dust grains up to ~1 micron in size can form in the outflow in the years before the explosion. This dusty CSM would attenuate the transient's ultraviolet (UV) emission prior to peak light, before being destroyed by the rising luminosity, reddening the pre-maximum colors (consistent with the pre-maximum red-to-blue color evolution of the LFBOT candidate MUSSES2020J). Re-radiation by the dust before being destroyed generates an near-infrared (NIR) "echo" of…
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Taxonomy
TopicsAdvanced Optical Sensing Technologies · Ocular and Laser Science Research · Laser Design and Applications
