Multiwavelength study of extreme variability in LEDA 1154204: A changing-look event in a type 1.9 Seyfert

Context. Multiwavelength studies of transients in actively accreting supermassive black holes have revealed that large-amplitude variability is frequently linked to significant changes in the optical spectra. This phenomenon is known as a changing-look active galactic nucleus (CLAGN). Aims. In 2020, the Zwicky Transient Facility detected a transient flaring event in the type 1.9 AGN LEDA 1154204, wherein the brightness sharply increased by 0.55 mag in one month and then began to decay. Spectrum Roentgen Gamma (SRG)/eROSITA also observed the object as part of its all-sky X-ray surveys after the flare had started to decay. Methods. We performed a three-year multiwavelength follow-up campaign to track the spectral and temporal characteristics of the source during the post-flare fading. This campaign included optical spectroscopy, X-ray spectroscopy and photometry, and ultraviolet, optical, and infrared continuum photometry. Results. Optical spectra taken near the flare peak revealed a broad double-peaked Hβ emission and a blue continuum, neither of which were detected in a 2005 archival spectrum. The broad Hβ had increased by a factor of > 5–6. From late 2020 through 2023, the broad Balmer-line flux faded as the continuum faded, and the Balmer decrement increased by ∼2.2. This is consistent with the expected ionization response. The X-ray spectrum exhibits no significant spectral variability despite dramatic flux variation of a factor of 17. There is no evidence of a soft X-ray excess, which indicates an energetically unimportant warm corona. Conclusions. The transient event was likely triggered by a disk instability in a preexisting AGN-like accretion flow that culminated in the observed multiwavelength variability (X-rays via thermal Comptonization, illumination of the broad-line region, and infrared dust echo) and in the CLAGN event.