Tidal Disruption Event Candidate Research Articles

A well-monitored, X-ray selected, tidal disruption event

We report on a candidate tidal disruption event detected in the XMM-Newton slew survey from the nucleus of SDSS J120136.02+300305.5 (z = 0.146; hereafter SDSS J1201+30). The source, monitored by Swift and XMM-Newton, was highly variable on timescales of a week, reaching a peak X-ray luminosity of 3 × 1044 ergs/s. The light curve is reminiscent of the variations seen in SWIFT J1644+57, although in this case the absence of radio flux rules out a jet mechanism for the emission. The X-ray spectrum is steep, (spectral index = 3–5) and softens with diminishing flux. It is inconsistent with a single or multi-temperature black-body model but may be fit with Bremsstrahlung or comptonised thermal emission.

Radio afterglow of the jetted tidal disruption event Swift J1644+57

The recent transient event Swift J1644+57 has been interpreted as resulting from a relativistic outflow, powered by the accretion of a tidally disrupted star onto a supermassive black hole. This discovery of a new class of relativistic transients opens new windows into the study of tidal disruption events (TDEs) and offers a unique probe of the physics of relativistic jet formation and the conditions in the centers of distant quiescent galaxies. Unlike the rapidly-varying γ/X-ray emission from Swift J1644+57, the radio emission varies more slowly and is well modeled as synchrotron radiation from the shock interaction between the jet and the gaseous circumnuclear medium (CNM). Early after the onset of the jet, a reverse shock propagates through and decelerates the ejecta released during the first few days of activity, while at much later times the outflow approaches the self-similar evolution of Blandford and McKee. The point at which the reverse shock entirely crosses the earliest ejecta is clearly observed as an achromatic break in the radio light curve at t ≈ 10 days. The flux and break frequencies of the afterglow constrain the properties of the jet and the CNM, including providing robust evidence for a narrowly collimated jet. I briefly discuss the implications of Swift J1644+57 for the fraction of TDEs accompanied by relativistic jets; the physics of jet formation more broadly; and the prospects for detecting off-axis TDE radio emission, either via follow-up observations of TDE candidates discovered at other wavelengths or blindly with upcoming wide-field radio surveys. The radio rebrightening observed months after the onset of the jet remains a major unsolved mystery, the resolution of which may require considering a jet with more complex (temporal or angular) structure.

OPTICAL DISCOVERY OF PROBABLE STELLAR TIDAL DISRUPTION FLARES

Using archival SDSS multi-epoch imaging data (Stripe 82), we have searched for the tidal disruption of stars by super-massive black holes in non-active galaxies. Two candidate tidal disruption events (TDEs) are identified. They have optical black-body temperatures 2 10^4 K and observed peak luminosities M_g=-18.3 and -20.4; their cooling rates are very low, qualitatively consistent with expectations for tidal disruption flares. Their properties are examined using i) SDSS imaging to compare them to other flares observed in the search, ii) UV emission measured by GALEX and iii) spectra of the hosts and of one of the flares. Our pipeline excludes optically identifiable AGN hosts, and our variability monitoring over 9 years provides strong evidence that these are not flares in hidden AGNs. The spectra and color evolution of the flares are unlike any SN observed to date, their strong late-time UV emission is particularly distinctive, and they are nuclear at high resolution, arguing against their being first cases of a previously-unobserved class of SNe or more extreme examples of known SN types. Taken together, the observed properties are difficult to reconcile with a SN or AGN-flare explanation, although an entirely new process specific to the inner few-hundred parsecs of non-active galaxies cannot be excluded. Our observed rate and method show the feasibility of obtaining a candidate TDE sample of hundreds of events and O(1) purity, using geometric resolution and host and flare color alone. A by-product of this work is quantification of the power-spectrum of extreme flares in AGNs.

DISCOVERY OF AN ULTRASOFT X-RAY TRANSIENT SOURCE IN THE 2XMM CATALOG: A TIDAL DISRUPTION EVENT CANDIDATE

We have discovered an ultrasoft X-ray transient source, 2XMMi J184725.1-631724, which was detected serendipitously in two XMM-Newton observations in the direction of the center of the galaxy IC 4765-f01-1504 at a redshift of 0.0353. These two observations were separated by 211 days, with the 0.2-10 keV absorbed flux increasing by a factor of about 9. Their spectra are best described by a model dominated by a thermal disk or a single-temperature blackbody component (contributing >80% of the flux) plus a weak power-law component. The thermal emission has a temperature of a few tens of eV, and the weak power-law component has a photon index of ~3.5. Similar to the black hole X-ray binaries in the thermal state, our source exhibits an accretion disk whose luminosity appears to follow the $L\propto T^4$ relation. This would indicate that the black hole mass is about 10^5-10^6 M_sun using the best-fitting inner disk radius. Both XMM-Newton observations show variability of about 21% on timescales of hours, which can be explained as due to fast variations in the mass accretion rate. The source was not detected by ROSAT in an observation in 1992, indicating a variability factor of >64 over longer timescales. The source was not detected again in X-rays in a Swift observation in 2011 February, implying a flux decrease by a factor of >12 since the last XMM-Newton observation. The transient nature, in addition to the extreme softness of the X-ray spectra and the inactivity of the galaxy implied by the lack of strong optical emission lines, makes it a candidate tidal disruption event. If this is the case, the first XMM-Newton observation would have been in the rising phase, and the second one in the decay phase.

LUMINOUS THERMAL FLARES FROM QUIESCENT SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES

A dormant supermassive black hole lurking in the center of a galaxy will be revealed when a star passes close enough to be torn apart by tidal forces, and a flare of electromagnetic radiation is emitted when the bound fraction of the stellar debris falls back onto the black hole and is accreted. Here we present the third candidate tidal disruption event discovered in the GALEX Deep Imaging Survey: a 1.6x10^{43} erg s^{-1} UV/optical flare from a star-forming galaxy at z=0.1855. The UV/optical SED during the peak of the flare measured by GALEX and Palomar LFC imaging can be modeled as a single temperature blackbody with T_{bb}=1.7x10^{5} K and a bolometric luminosity of 3x10^{45} erg s^{-1}, assuming an internal extinction with E(B-V)_{gas}=0.3. The Chandra upper limit on the X-ray luminosity during the peak of the flare, L_{X}(2-10 keV)< 10^{41} erg s^{-1}, is 2 orders of magnitude fainter than expected from the ratios of UV to X-ray flux density observed in active galaxies. We compare the light curves and broadband properties of all three tidal disruption candidates discovered by GALEX, and find that (1) the light curves are well fitted by the power-law decline expected for the fallback of debris from a tidally disrupted solar-type star, and (2) the UV/optical SEDs can be attributed to thermal emission from an envelope of debris located at roughly 10 times the tidal disruption radius of a ~10^{7} M_sun central black hole. We use the observed peak absolute optical magnitudes of the flares (-17.5 > M_{g} > -18.9) to predict the detection capabilities of upcoming optical synoptic surveys. (Abridged)

A candidate tidal disruption event in the Galaxy cluster Abell 3571

Tidal disruption events are possible sources of temporary nuclear activity in galactic nuclei and can be considered as good indicators of the existence of super massive black holes in the centers of galaxies. A new X-ray source has been serendipitously detected with ROSAT in a PSPC pointed observation of the galaxy cluster A3571. Given the strong flux decay of the object in subsequent detections, the tidal disruption scenario is investigated as possible explanationof the event. We followed up the evolution of the X-ray transient with ROSAT, XMM-Newton and Chandra for a total period of ~13 years. We also obtained 7-band optical/NIR photometry with GROND at the ESO/MPI 2.2m telescope. We report a very large decay of the X-ray flux of ROSAT source identified with the galaxy LEDA 095953 a member of the cluster Abell 3571. We measured a maximum 0.3-2.4 keV luminosity Log(L_X)=42.8 erg s^-1. The high state of the source lasted at least 150 ks, afterwards L_X declined as ~t^-2. The spectrum of the brightest epoch is consistent with a black body with temperature kT ~0.12 keV. The total energy released by this event in 10 yr was estimated to be Delta_E>2x10^50 erg. We interpret this event as a tidal disruption of a solar type star by the central supermassive black hole (i.e. ~10^7 M_sun) of the galaxy.

Tidal disruption of stripped red giants by massive black holes

AbstractWe investigate the tidal disruption of a red giant whose envelope is thought to be stripped off when it passed by a massive black hole. Since the low-density stellar envelope would be lost, the tidal disruption of a red giant by massive black hole is regarded as primarily happening in its core region. The object is called a stripped red giant (SRG). Comparing our results with the three candidate tidal disruption events detected by Chandra in 2001 and 2002, i.e., the X-ray flares of NGC 5905, RX J1242.6-1119A, and RX J1624.9+7554, we argue that the tidal disruption of a stripped red giant is strongly ruled out.

UV/Optical Detections of Candidate Tidal Disruption Events byGALEXand CFHTLS

We present two luminous UV/optical flares from the nuclei of apparently inactive early-type galaxies at z=0.37 and 0.33 that have the radiative properties of a flare from the tidal disruption of a star. In this paper we report the second candidate tidal disruption event discovery in the UV by the GALEX Deep Imaging Survey, and present simultaneous optical light curves from the CFHTLS Deep Imaging Survey for both UV flares. The first few months of the UV/optical light curves are well fitted with the canonical t^(-5/3) power-law decay predicted for emission from the fallback of debris from a tidally disrupted star. Chandra ACIS X-ray observations during the flares detect soft X-ray sources with T_bb= (2-5) x 10^5 K or Gamma > 3 and place limits on hard X-ray emission from an underlying AGN down to L_X (2-10 keV) 10^44-10^45 ergs/s. The temperature, luminosity, and light curves of both flares are in excellent agreement with emission from a tidally disrupted main sequence star onto a central black hole of several times 10^7 msun. The observed detection rate of our search over ~ 2.9 deg^2 of GALEX Deep Imaging Survey data spanning from 2003 to 2007 is consistent with tidal disruption rates calculated from dynamical models, and we use these models to make predictions for the detection rates of the next generation of optical synoptic surveys.

Candidate tidal disruption events from the XMM-Newton slew survey

Context. In recent years, giant amplitude X-ray flares have been observed from a handful of non-active galaxies. The most plausible scenario of these unusual phenomena is tidal disruption of a star by a quiescent supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy. Aims. Only a small number of these type of events have been observed and confirmed to date. The discovery of more cases would allow a number of fundamental conclusions to be drawn about properties such as the frequency of tidal disruption events, the distribution of quiescent black hole masses and their influence in the context of galaxy/AGN formation and evolution among others. Methods. Comparing the XMM-Newton Slew Survey Source Catalogue with the ROSAT PSPC All-Sky Survey five galaxies have been detected a factor of up to 88 brighter in XMM-Newton with respect to ROSAT PSPC upper limits and presenting a soft X-ray colour. X-ray luminosities of these sources derived from slew observations have been found in the range 10 41 −10 44 erg s −1 , fully consistent with the tidal disruption model. This model predicts that during the peak of the outburst, flares reach X-ray luminosities up to 10 45 erg s −1 , which is close to the Eddington luminosity of the black hole, and afterwards a decay of the flux on a time scale of months to years is expected. Multi-wavelength follow-up observations have been performed on these highly variable objects in order to disentangle their nature and to investigate their dynamical evolution. Results. Here we present sources coming from the XMM-Newton Slew Survey that could fit in the paradigm of tidal disruption events. X-ray and optical observations revealed that two of these objects are in full agreement with that scenario and three other sources that, showing signs of optical activity, need further investigation within the transient galactic nuclei phenomena.

Contribution of Stellar Tidal Disruptions to the X‐Ray Luminosity Function of Active Galaxies

The luminosity function of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) has been measured down to luminosities ~10^(42) ergs s^(-1) in the soft and hard X-rays. Some fraction of this activity is associated with the accretion of the material liberated by the tidal disruption of stars by massive black holes. We estimate the contribution to the X-ray luminosity function from the tidal disruption process. While the contribution depends on a number of poorly known parameters, it appears that it can account for the majority of X-ray-selected AGNs with soft or hard X-ray luminosities ≲10^(43)-10^(44) ergs s^(-1). If this is correct, a significant portion of the X-ray luminosity function of AGNs is comprised of sources powered by tidal disruption at the faint end, while the sources at the bright end are powered by nonstellar accretion. Black holes with masses ≲2 × 10^6 M_☉ could have acquired most of their present mass by an accretion of tidal debris. In view of the considerable theoretical uncertainty concerning the detailed shape of the light curves of tidal disruption events, we focus on power-law luminosity decay (as identified in candidate tidal disruption events), but we also discuss constant accretion rate models. We expect that the sources associated with thin-disk accretion of circularized tidal debris have peak luminosities of ≲10^(39)-10^(41) ergs s^(-1), below the luminosity range probed in present surveys.

Follow‐UpChandraObservations of Three Candidate Tidal Disruption Events

Large-amplitude, high-luminosity soft X-ray flares were detected by the ROSAT All-Sky Survey in several galaxies with no evidence of Seyfert activity in their ground-based optical spectra. These flares had the properties predicted for a tidal disruption of a star by a central supermassive black hole. We report Chandra observations of three of these galaxies taken a decade after their flares that reveal weak nuclear X-ray sources that are from 240 to 6000 times fainter than their luminosities at peak, supporting the theory that these were special events and not ongoing active galactic nucleus (AGN) variability. The decline of RX J1624.9+7554 by a factor of 6000 is consistent with the (t-t_D)^(-5/3) decay predicted for the fall-back phase of a tidal disruption event, but only if ROSAT was lucky enough to catch the event exactly at its peak in 1990 October. RX J1242.6-1119A has declined by a factor of 240, also consistent with (t-t_D)^(-5/3). In the H II galaxy NGC 5905 we find only resolved, soft X-ray emission that is undoubtedly associated with starburst activity. When accounting for the starburst component, the ROSAT observations of NGC 5905, as well as the Chandra upper limit on its nuclear flux, are consistent with a (t-t_D)^(-5/3) decay by at least a factor of 1000. Although we found weak Seyfert~2 emission lines in Hubble Space Telescope spectra of NGC 5905, indicating that a low-luminosity AGN was present prior to the X-ray flare, we favor a tidal disruption explanation for the flare itself.