Early results in the search for extreme coronal line emitters with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

Abstract Here we present the results of our search through the Early Data Release (EDR) of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) for extreme coronal line emitters (ECLEs) – a rare classification of galaxies displaying strong, high-ionisation iron coronal emission lines within their spectra. With the requirement of a strong X-ray continuum to generate the coronal emission, ECLEs have been linked to both active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and tidal disruption events (TDEs). We focus our search on identifying TDE-linked ECLEs. We identify three such objects within the EDR sample, highlighting DESI’s effectiveness for discovering new nuclear transients, and determine a galaxy-normalised TDE-linked ECLE rate of $R_\mathrm{G}=5~^{+5}_{-3}\times 10^{-6}~\mathrm{galaxy}^{-1}~\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$ at a median redshift of z = 0.2 – broadly consistent with previous work. Additionally, we identify more than 200 AGNs displaying coronal emission lines, which serve as the primary astrophysical contaminants in searches for TDE-related events. We also include an outline of the custom Python code developed for this search.

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Publication Details

Journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Published
2026-05-08
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag887
Primary Topic
Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Early results in the search for extreme coronal line emitters with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

Will J. Percival, B A Weaver, Or Graur, Andrei Cuceu et al.
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
article

Early results in the search for extreme coronal line emitters with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

Will J. Percival, B A Weaver, Or Graur, Andrei Cuceu, J Silber, John Moustakas, Dick Joyce, Segev BenZvi, Mustapha Ishak, Joseph Callow, Zhou R, V A Fawcett, L Le Guillou, Aaron Meisner, David Sprayberry, Eusebio Sanchez, Hu Zou, Marc Manera, Seshadri Nadathur, Michael Schubnell, Martin Landriau, Todd Claybaugh, Gregory Tarlé, Graziano Rossi, Steven Ahlen, Theodore Kisner, Jaime E Forero-Romero, Alexei V Filippenko, Thomas G Brink, Enrique Gaztañaga, Stephanie Juneau, WeiKang Zheng, Davide Bianchi, Ignasi Pérez-Ràfols, David Brooks, Arjun Dey, Jorge Jimenez, Peter Doel, Anthony Kremin, Satya Gontcho A Gontcho, Ramon Miquel, Jessica Aguilar, Peter Clark, David Schlegel, Axel de la Macorra, Gaston Gutierrez, Francisco Prada
article en

Abstract

Abstract Here we present the results of our search through the Early Data Release (EDR) of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) for extreme coronal line emitters (ECLEs) – a rare classification of galaxies displaying strong, high-ionisation iron coronal emission lines within their spectra. With the requirement of a strong X-ray continuum to generate the coronal emission, ECLEs have been linked to both active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and tidal disruption events (TDEs). We focus our search on identifying TDE-linked ECLEs. We identify three such objects within the EDR sample, highlighting DESI’s effectiveness for discovering new nuclear transients, and determine a galaxy-normalised TDE-linked ECLE rate of $R_\mathrm{G}=5~^{+5}_{-3}\times 10^{-6}~\mathrm{galaxy}^{-1}~\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$ at a median redshift of z = 0.2 – broadly consistent with previous work. Additionally, we identify more than 200 AGNs displaying coronal emission lines, which serve as the primary astrophysical contaminants in searches for TDE-related events. We also include an outline of the custom Python code developed for this search.

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Boston University (US), Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (US), European Southern Observatory (DE), Institute of Space Sciences (ES), American Museum of Natural History (US), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US), University of Waterloo (CA), Universidad de Los Andes (CO), The University of Texas at Dallas (US), Perimeter Institute (CA), Institute for High Energy Physics (ES), University of Milan (IT), University of Michigan (US), Brera Astronomical Observatory (IT), Sejong University (KR), Sorbonne Université (FR), Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (ES), Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies (FR), Community Science and Data Center (US), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Milano (IT), NSF NOIRLab (US), Universidad de Los Andes (BO), Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (ES), National Astronomical Observatories (CN), Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (ES), University of Southampton (GB), University College London (GB), University of Virginia (US), University of Rochester (US), University of Portsmouth (GB), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX), Siena College (US), University of California, Berkeley (US), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (ES)
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