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Spectropolarimetry of A Nuclear Transient AT2023clx: Revealing The Geometrical Alignment between The Transient Outflow and The Nuclear Dusty Region

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arxiv 2503.19024 v2 pith:34JGRGSU submitted 2025-03-24 astro-ph.HE astro-ph.GA

classification astro-ph.HEastro-ph.GA
keywords nuclearpolarizationat2023clxdustydustoutflowregiontransient
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal
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abstract

AT2023clx, which occurred in NGC3799 with a Low-Ionization Nuclear Emission-Line Region (LINER), is one of the most nearby nuclear transients classified as a tidal disruption event (TDE). We present three-epoch spectropolarimetric follow-up observations of AT2023clx. We detected two polarization components; one is a constant polarization of $\sim 1\%$ originated from an aspherical outflow associated with the transient, while the other is a blue-excess polarization toward $\sim 2\%$ originated from a nuclear dusty environment via light echoes. The polarization angle flipped by 90 degrees between the two epochs, indicating that the outflow direction was perpendicular to the dust plane. Furthermore, the polarized flux might suggest that the nuclear dust favors relatively large grains, potentially offering constraints on its physical properties. Such polarization features -- the blue excess and the 90-degree flip -- have never been observed in previous TDE polarization samples, highlighting unique mechanisms behind AT2023clx. We propose possible scenarios: the disruption of a star formed within or captured by a nuclear dusty cloud. Given the LINER nature of NGC3799, the dusty region may possibly be linked to a torus or disk associated with a weak Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN). Furthermore, as a more speculative scenario, the event might have been triggered by AGN-like activity, potentially linked to changing-look AGNs or ambiguous nuclear transients. These findings highlight the power of time-series spectropolarimetry of TDEs, not only in probing the origins of nuclear transients, but also in investigating the physical properties of nuclear dust.

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  1. Optical polarization properties of the closest tidal disruption event AT 2023clx indicate origin from tidal stream shocks

    astro-ph.HE 2025-08 unverdicted novelty 5.0 of 10

    Optical polarization of the nearby tidal disruption event AT 2023clx peaks near 5 percent, swings 60 to 100 degrees between days 6 and 20 after the optical peak, and resembles AT 2020mot, supporting stream-shock model...

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