- Coppejans, DL;
- Margutti, R;
- Terreran, G;
- Nayana, AJ;
- Coughlin, ER;
- Laskar, T;
- Alexander, KD;
- Bietenholz, M;
- Caprioli, D;
- Chandra, P;
- Drout, MR;
- Frederiks, D;
- Frohmaier, C;
- Hurley, KH;
- Kochanek, CS;
- MacLeod, M;
- Meisner, A;
- Nugent, PE;
- Ridnaia, A;
- Sand, DJ;
- Svinkin, D;
- Ward, C;
- Yang, S;
- Baldeschi, A;
- Chilingarian, IV;
- Dong, Y;
- Esquivia, C;
- Fong, W;
- Guidorzi, C;
- Lundqvist, P;
- Milisavljevic, D;
- Paterson, K;
- Reichart, DE;
- Shappee, B;
- Stroh, MC;
- Valenti, S;
- Zauderer, BA;
- Zhang, B
We present X-ray and radio observations of the Fast Blue Optical Transient CRTS-CSS161010 J045834-081803 (CSS161010 hereafter) at t = 69-531 days. CSS161010 shows luminous X-ray (L x ∼ 5 × 1039 erg s-1) and radio (L ν ∼ 1029 erg s-1 Hz-1) emission. The radio emission peaked at ∼100 days post-transient explosion and rapidly decayed. We interpret these observations in the context of synchrotron emission from an expanding blast wave. CSS161010 launched a mildly relativistic outflow with velocity Γβc ≥ 0.55c at ∼100 days. This is faster than the non-relativistic AT 2018cow (Γβc ∼ 0.1c) and closer to ZTF18abvkwla (Γβc ≥ 0.3c at 63 days). The inferred initial kinetic energy of CSS161010 (E k ⪆ 1051 erg) is comparable to that of long gamma-ray bursts, but the ejecta mass that is coupled to the mildly relativistic outflow is significantly larger (∼ 0.01-0.1 M⊙). This is consistent with the lack of observed γ-rays. The luminous X-rays were produced by a different emission component to the synchrotron radio emission. CSS161010 is located at ∼150 Mpc in a dwarf galaxy with stellar mass M * ∼ 107 M o˙ and specific star formation rate sSFR ∼ 0.3 Gyr-1. This mass is among the lowest inferred for host galaxies of explosive transients from massive stars. Our observations of CSS161010 are consistent with an engine-driven aspherical explosion from a rare evolutionary path of a H-rich stellar progenitor, but we cannot rule out a stellar tidal disruption event on a centrally located intermediate-mass black hole. Regardless of the physical mechanism, CSS161010 establishes the existence of a new class of rare (rate < 0.4% of the local core-collapse supernova rate) H-rich transients that can launch mildly relativistic outflows.