Mapping the Inner 0.1 pc of a Supermassive Black Hole Environment with the Tidal Disruption Event and Extreme Coronal Line Emitter AT 2022upj

TL;DR

This paper reports the first confirmed case of an extreme coronal line emitter associated with a tidal disruption event, revealing detailed spectroscopic evolution and stratified circumnuclear material around a supermassive black hole.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed spectroscopic analysis of an ECLE linked to a TDE, demonstrating the impact of energetic flares on SMBH environments and revealing stratified circumnuclear material.

Findings

Detection of extreme coronal lines during the optical peak.

Spectroscopic evolution shows weakening of Fe lines and emergence of others over 400 days.

Evidence of stratified circumnuclear material within 0.1-0.4 pc of SMBH.

Abstract

Extreme coronal line emitters (ECLEs) are objects showing transient high-ionization lines in the centers of galaxies. They have been attributed to echoes of high-energy flares of ionizing radiation, such as those produced by tidal disruption events (TDEs), but have only recently been observed within hundreds of days after an optical transient was detected. AT 2022upj is a nuclear UV-optical flare at z=0.054 with spectra showing [Fe X] {\lambda}6375 and [Fe XIV] {\lambda}5303 during the optical peak, the earliest presence of extreme coronal lines during an ongoing transient. AT 2022upj is also the second ever ECLE (and first with a concurrent flare) to show broad He II {\lambda}4686 emission, a key signature of optical/UV TDEs. We also detect X-ray emission during the optical transient phase, which may be related to the source of ionizing photons for the extreme coronal lines. Finally, we analyze the spectroscopic evolution of each emission line and find that [Fe X] and [Fe XIV] weaken within 400d of optical peak, while [Fe VII] {\lambda}5720, [Fe VII] {\lambda}6087, and [O III] {\lambda}{\lambda}4959,5007 emerge over the same period. The velocities of the iron lines indicate circumnuclear gas within 0.1pc of the central supermassive black hole (SMBH), while a dust echo inferred from NEOWISE data indicates that circumnuclear dust lies at a minimum of 0.4pc away, providing evidence of stratified material around a SMBH. AT 2022upj is the first confirmed ECLE-TDE with clear signatures of both classes. This event's spectroscopic evolution on a $\sim$year unveils the impact of highly energetic flares such as TDEs on the complex environments around SMBHs.