Multi-wavelength Observations of the Giant X-ray Flare Galaxy NGC 5905:
  signatures of tidal disruption
  NGC 5905 is one of the few galaxies with no prior evidence for an AGN in
which an X-ray flare, due to the tidal disruption of a star by the massive
black hole in the center of the galaxy, was detected by the RASS in 1990-91.
Here we present analysis of late-time follow-up observations of NGC 5905 using
Chandra, Spitzer VLA 3 GHz and 8 GHz archival data and GMRT 1.28 GHz radio
observations. The X-ray image shows no compact source that could be associated
with an AGN. Instead, the emission is extended -- likely due to nuclear star
formation and the total measured X-ray luminosity is comparable to the X-ray
luminosity determined from the 2002 Chandra observations. Diffuse X-ray
emission was detected close to the circum-nuclear star forming ring. The
Spitzer 2006 mid-infrared spectrum also shows strong evidence of nuclear star
formation but no clear AGN signatures. The semi-analytical models of Tommasin
et. al. 2010 together with the measured [OIV]/[NeII] line ratio suggest that at
most only 5.6% of the total IR Flux at 19 $\mu$m is being contributed by the
AGN. The GMRT 1.28 GHz observations reveal a nuclear source. In the much higher
resolution VLA 3 GHz map, the emission has a double lobed structure of size
2.7'' due to the circumnuclear star forming ring. The GMRT 1.28 GHz peak
emission coincides with the center of the circumnuclear ring. We did not detect
any emission in the VLA 8 GHz (1996) archival data. The 3 $\sigma$ upper limits
for the radio afterglow of the TDE at 1.28 GHz, 3 GHz and 8 GHz are 0.17 mJy,
0.09 mJy and 0.09 mJy, respectively. Our studies thus show that (i) NGC 5905
has a declining X-ray flux consistent with a TDE, (ii) the IR flux is dominated
by nuclear star formation, (iii) the nuclear radio emission observed from the
galaxy is due to circumnuclear star formation, (iv) no compact radio emission
associated with a radio afterglow from the TDE is detected.
