AT2018cow: a luminous millimeter transient

We present detailed submillimeter- through centimeter-wave observations of the extraordinary extragalactic transient AT2018cow. The apparent characteristics – the high radio luminosity, the long-lived emission plateau at millimeter bands, and the sub-relativistic velocity – have no precedent. A basic interpretation of the data suggests $E_k\gtrsim {10}^{48}$ erg coupled to a fast but sub-relativistic ($v\approx 0.13c$) shock in a dense ($n_e \approx 3 \times 10^{5},$cm$^{-3}$) medium. We find that the X-ray emission is not naturally explained by an extension of the radio-submm synchrotron spectrum, nor by inverse Compton scattering of the dominant blackbody UVOIR photons by energetic electrons within the forward shock. By $\mathrm{\Delta }t\approx 20$days, the X-ray emission shows spectral softening and erratic inter-day variability. Taken together, we are led to invoke an additional source of X-ray emission: the central engine of the event. Regardless of the nature of this central engine, this source heralds a new class of energetic transients shocking a dense medium, which at early times are most readily observed at millimeter wavelengths.