Radio and X-Ray Observations of the Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transient AT 2020xnd

We present deep X-ray and radio observations of the fast blue optical transient (FBOT) AT 2020xnd/ZTF 20acigmel at z = 0.2433 from 13 days to 269 days after explosion. AT 2020xnd belongs to the category of optically luminous FBOTs with similarities to the archetypal event AT 2018cow. AT 2020xnd shows luminous radio emission reaching L-nu approximate to 8 x 10(29) erg s(-1) Hz(-1) at 20 GHz and 75 days post-explosion, accompanied by luminous and rapidly fading soft X-ray emission peaking at L-x approximate to 6 x 10(42) erg s(-1). Interpreting the radio emission in the context of synchrotron radiation from the explosion's shock interaction with the environment, we find that AT 2020xnd launched a high-velocity outflow (nu 0.1c-0.2c) propagating into a dense circumstellar medium (effective (M)over dot approximate to 10(-3) MG yr(-1 )for an assumed wind velocity of v(w) = 1000 km s(-1)). Similar to AT 2018cow, the detected X-ray emission is in excess compared to the extrapolated synchrotron spectrum and constitutes a different emission component, possibly powered by accretion onto a newly formed black hole or neutron star. These properties make AT 2020xnd a high-redshift analog to AT 2018cow, and establish AT 2020xnd as the fourth member of the class of optically luminous FBOTs with luminous multiwavelength counterparts.

Automated summary

We conducted multiwavelength observations of the high-redshift fast blue optical transient AT 2020xnd, finding strong radio emission and rapidly fading X-ray emission, which show similarities to AT 2018cow and are possibly caused by the shock interaction with the environment. In addition, we detected X-ray emission that exceeds the extrapolated synchrotron spectrum, possibly powered by accretion onto a newly formed black hole or neutron star.