Related papers: AT2018cow: a luminous millimeter transient
Observations of the extragalactic ($z=0.0141$) transient AT2018cow established a new class of energetic explosions shocking a dense medium, which produce luminous emission at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths. Here we present…
We present the first extensive radio to gamma-ray observations of a fast-rising blue optical transient (FBOT), AT2018cow, over its first ~100 days. AT2018cow rose over a few days to a peak luminosity $L_{pk}\sim4\times 10^{44}$ erg/s…
The bright transient AT2018cow has been unlike any other known type of transient. Its high brightness, rapid rise and decay and initially nearly featureless spectrum are unprecedented and difficult to explain using models for similar burst…
Wide-field optical surveys have begun to uncover large samples of fast (t_rise < 5d), luminous (M_peak < -18), blue transients. While commonly attributed to the breakout of a supernova shock into a dense wind, the great distances to the…
The fast-rising blue optical transient AT2018cow indicated unusual early phase characteristics unlike relatively better studied explosive transients. Its afterglow may be produced by either a relativistically beamed (jetted) or…
We present the ATLAS discovery and initial analysis of the first 18 days of the unusual transient event, ATLAS18qqn/AT2018cow. It is characterized by a high peak luminosity ($\sim$1.7 $\times$ 10$^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$), rapidly evolving light…
We present a quantitative model for the luminous fast blue optical transient AT2018cow in which a shock propagating through an aspherical circumstellar medium (CSM) produces the X-ray and UV/optical/NIR emission. X-rays are emitted from hot…
We present our photometric and spectroscopic observations on the peculiar transient AT2018cow. The multi-band photometry covers from peak to $\sim$70 days and the spectroscopy ranges from 5 to $\sim$50 days. The rapid rise…
AT2018cow is the most extensively observed and widely studied fast blue optical transient to date; its unique observational properties challenge all existing standard models. In this paper, we model the luminosity evolution of the optical,…
In recent years, certain luminous extragalactic optical transients have been observed to last only a few days. Their short observed duration implies a different powering mechanism from the most common luminous extragalactic transients…
We present the first deep X-ray observations of a luminous FBOT AT2018cow, at $\sim3.7\,\rm{yr}$ since discovery, together with the re-analysis of the observation at $\delta t\sim 220$ d. X-ray emission is significantly detected at a…
The bright, blue, rapidly evolving AT2018cow is a well-studied peculiar extragalactic transient. Despite an abundance of multi-wavelength data, there still is no consensus on the nature of the event. We present our analysis of three epochs…
We report on VLBI observations of the fast and blue optical transient (FBOT), AT 2018cow. At ~62 Mpc, AT 2018cow is the first relatively nearby FBOT. The nature of AT 2018cow is not clear, although various hypotheses from a tidal disruption…
The many unusual properties of the enigmatic AT2018cow suggested that at least some subset of the empirical class of fast blue optical transients (FBOTs) represents a genuinely new astrophysical phenomenon. Unfortunately, the intrinsic…
Supernova (SN) 2018cow (or AT2018cow) is an optical transient detected in the galaxy CGCG 137-068. It has been classified as a SN due to various characteristics in its optical spectra. The transient is also a bright X-ray source. We present…
The fast blue optical transients (FBOTs) are a new population of extragalactic transients of unclear physical origin. A variety of mechanisms have been proposed including failed supernova explosion, shock interaction with a dense medium,…
We report on the discovery of AT2018lqh (ZTF18abfzgpl) -- a rapidly-evolving extra-galactic transient in a star-forming host at 242 Mpc. The transient g-band light curve's duration above half-maximum light is about 2.1 days, where 0.4/1.7…
The brightest Fast Blue Optical Transients (FBOTs) are mysterious extragalactic explosions that may represent a new class of astrophysical phenomena. Their fast time to maximum brightness of less than a week and decline over several months…
AT 2018cow was the nearest and best studied example of a new breed of extra-galactic, luminous and rapidly-evolving transient. Both the progenitor systems and explosion mechanisms of these rapid transients remain a mystery - the energetics,…
We report the discovery of a luminous late-time source at the position of the fast blue optical transient (FBOT) AT2018cow on images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) at 714 d and 1136 d after its explosion. This source is detected…