Dissonance in Harmony: The UV/Optical Periodic Outbursts of ASASSN-14ko Exhibit Repeated Bumps and Rebrightenings

Abstract

ASASSN-14ko was identified as an abnormal periodic nuclear transient with a potential decreasing period. Its outbursts in the optical and UV bands have displayed a consistent and smooth “fast rise and slow decay” pattern since its discovery, which has recently experienced an unexpected alteration in the last two epochs, as revealed by our proposed high-cadence Swift observations. The new light curve profiles show a bump during the rising stages and a rebrightening during the declining stages, making them much broader and symmetrical than the previous ones. In the last two epochs, there is no significant difference in the X-ray spectral slope compared to the previous one, and its overall luminosity is lower than those of the previous epochs. The energy released in the early bump and rebrightening phases (∼10 ^50 erg) could be due to collision of the stripped stream from partial tidal disruption events with an expanded accretion disk. We also discussed other potential explanations, such as disk instability and star–disk collisions. Further high-cadence multiwavelength observations of subsequent cycles are encouraged to comprehend the unique periodic source with its new intriguing features.

Keywords

• Tidal disruption
• Supermassive black holes
• Black hole physics
• Accretion