AT2021lwx: Another Neutrino-coincident Tidal Disruption Event with a Strong Dust Echo?

Abstract

We discuss the possible association of an astrophysical neutrino (IC220405B) with the recently reported, extremely energetic tidal disruption event (TDE) candidate AT2021lwx (ZTF20abrbeie, aka “Scary Barbie”) at redshift z = 0.995. Although the TDE is about 2.°6 off the direction of the reconstructed neutrino event (outside the 90% confidence level localization region), the TDE candidate shares some important characteristics with so-far-reported neutrino–TDE associations: a strong infrared dust echo, high bolometric luminosity, a neutrino time delay with respect to the peak mass accretion rate of the order of a hundred days, and a high observed X-ray luminosity. We interpret this new association using an isotropic emission model, where neutrinos are produced by the collision of accelerated protons with infrared photons. After accounting for the high redshift of AT2021lwx (by interpreting the data in the supermassive black hole (SMBH) frame), we find that the expected neutrino fluences and neutrino time delays are qualitatively comparable to the other TDEs. Since data are only available up to 300 days postpeak in the SMBH frame, significant uncertainties exist in the dust echo interpretation, and therefore in the predicted number of neutrinos detected, Nν≃3.0×10−3−0.012 . We recommend further follow-up of this object for an extended period and suggest refining the reconstruction of the neutrino arrival direction in this particular case.