Detections and Constraints on White Dwarf Variability from Time-Series GALEX Observations

We search for photometric variability in more than 23,000 known and candidate white dwarfs, the largest ultraviolet survey compiled for a single study of white dwarfs. We use gPhoton, a publicly available calibration/reduction pipeline, to generate time-series photometry of white dwarfs observed by GALEX. By implementing a system of weighted metrics, we select sources with variability due to pulsations and eclipses. Although GALEX observations have short baselines (< 30 min), we identify intrinsic variability in sources as faint as Gaia G = 20 mag. With our ranking algorithm, we identify 49 new variable white dwarfs (WDs) in archival GALEX observations. We detect 41 new pulsators: 37 have hydrogen-dominated atmospheres (DAVs), including one possible massive DAV, and four are helium-dominated pulsators (DBVs). We also detect eight new eclipsing systems; five are new discoveries, and three were previously known spectroscopic binaries. We perform synthetic injections of the light curve of WD 1145+017, a system with known transiting debris, to test our ability to recover similar systems. We find that the 3{\sigma} maximum occurrence rate of WD 1145+017-like transiting objects is < 0.5%.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figure

Coronal Line Emitters are Tidal Disruption Events in Gas-Rich Environments

Some galaxies show little to no sign of active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity, yet exhibit strong coronal emission lines (CLs) relative to common narrow emission lines. Many of these coronal lines have ionization potentials of $\geq 100$ eV, thus requiring strong extreme UV and/or soft X-ray flux. It has long been thought that such events are powered by tidal disruption events (TDEs), but owing to a lack of detailed multi-wavelength follow-up, such a connection has not been firmly made. Here we compare coronal line emitters (CLEs) and TDEs in terms of their host-galaxy and transient properties. We find that the mid-infrared (MIR) colors of CLE hosts in quiescence are similar to TDE hosts. Additionally, many CLEs show evidence of a large dust reprocessing echo in their mid-infrared colors, a sign of significant dust in the nucleus. The stellar masses and star formation rates of the CLE hosts are consistent with TDE hosts, and both populations reside within the green valley. The blackbody properties of CLEs and TDEs are similar, with some CLEs showing hot (T $\geq 40,000$ K) blackbody temperatures. Finally, the location of CLEs on the peak-luminosity/decline-rate parameter space is much closer to TDEs than many other major classes of nuclear transients. Combined, these provide strong evidence to confirm the previous claims that CLEs are indeed TDEs in gas-rich environments. We additionally propose a stricter threshold of CL flux $\geq 1/3$ $\times$ [O III] flux to better exclude AGNs from the sample of CLEs.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. Will be submitted to MNRAS. Comments welcom

No UV-bright Eruptions from SN 2023ixf in GALEX Imaging 15-20 Years Before Explosion

We analyze pre-explosion ultraviolet (UV) imaging of the nearby Type II supernova SN 2023ixf in search of precursor variability. No outbursts are seen in observations obtained 15-20 yr prior to explosion to a limit of $L_{NUV} \approx 1000~L_{sun}$ and $L_{NUV} \approx 2000~L_{sun}$. The time period of these non-detections roughly corresponds to changes in the circumstellar density inferred from early spectra and photometry.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Submitted to AAS Research Note