A Huge Drop in the X-Ray Luminosity of the Nonactive Galaxy RX J1242.6-1119A, and the First Postflare Spectrum: Testing the Tidal Disruption Scenario

Komossa, Stefanie; Halpern, J. P.; Schartel, N.; Hasinger, G.; Santos-Lleo, M.; Predehl, P.

doi:10.1086/382046

Cited by 169 publications

(176 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The characteristics of the flare are therefore consistent with previous cases of candidate tidal disruption events (see e.g. Komossa et al 2004;Esquej et al 2008) and with theoretical predictions (Rees 1990;Lodato et al 2008). The mass of the BH should be not much higher than ∼10 8 M to disrupt a Sun-like star outside the Schwarzschild radius and to allow the onset of accretion.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

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A candidate tidal disruption event in the Galaxy cluster Abell 3571

Cappelluti

Ajello

Rebusco

et al. 2009

A&A

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Context. Tidal disruption events are possible sources of temporary nuclear activity in galactic nuclei and can be considered as good indicators of the existence of supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies. Aims. A new X-ray source has been detected serendipitously 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 a possible explanation of the event. Methods. We followed 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 2.2 m telescope. Results. We report a very large decay of the X-ray flux of the 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. Conclusions. The total energy released by this event in 10 yr was estimated to be Δ E > 2 × 10 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 ) of the galaxy.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…7 candidate tidal disruption events have been detected in the X-ray by the ROSAT all-sky survey and in the XMM-Newton slew survey (see e.g. Komossa & Bade 1999;Greiner et al 2000;Grupe et al 1999;Komossa et al 2004;Esquej et al 2007). Candidate tidal disruption have been observed also in the Optical/UV (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A candidate tidal disruption event in the Galaxy cluster Abell 3571

Cappelluti

Ajello

Rebusco

et al. 2009

A&A

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“…The same evolution was seen in the spectrum of SWIFT J164449.3+573451 which also softens with decreasing flux (Burrows et al 2011). This differs from previous TDE flares which showed a spectral hardening with time in observations of candidates taken several years after the peak of the event Komossa et al 2004;Vaughan et al 2004). This may be telling us that the later emission (after ∼2 years) is caused by a different process, for example accretion from a slim disc.…”

Section: X-ray Spectrumcontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…These events all shared very similar properties, including high peak luminosities and very soft spectra characterised by thermal emission at 40−100 eV, and, in the case of NGC 5905, a decline law scaling approximately as t −5/3 (see Komossa 2002 for a review). Subsequent XMM-Newton and Chandra observations of these sources, taken 10 years after their discovery showed fading by a factor 200−6000 and a remnant spectrum which had hardened Komossa et al 2004;Vaughan et al 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A tidal disruption-like X-ray flare from the quiescent galaxy SDSS J120136.02+300305.5

Saxton

Read

Esquej

et al. 2012

A&A

145

131

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Aims. The study of tidal disruption flares from galactic nuclei has historically been hampered by a lack of high quality spectral observations taken around the peak of the outburst. Here we introduce the first results from a program designed to identify tidal disruption events at their peak by making near-real-time comparisons of the flux seen in XMM-Newton slew sources with that seen in ROSAT. Methods. Flaring extragalactic sources, which do not appear to be AGN, are monitored with Swift and XMM-Newton to track their temporal and spectral evolution. Timely optical observations are made to monitor the reaction of circumnuclear material to the X-ray flare.Results. SDSS J120136.02+300305.5 was detected in an XMM-Newton slew from June 2010 with a flux 56 times higher than an upper limit from ROSAT, corresponding to L X ∼ 3 × 10 44 erg s −1 . It has the optical spectrum of a quiescent galaxy (z = 0.146). Overall the X-ray flux has evolved consistently with the canonical t −5/3 model, expected for returning stellar debris, fading by a factor ∼300 over 300 days. In detail the source is very variable and became invisible to Swift between 27 and 48 days after discovery, perhaps due to self-absorption. The X-ray spectrum is soft but is not the expected tail of optically thick thermal emission. It may be fit with a Bremsstrahlung or double-power-law model and is seen to soften with time and declining flux. Optical spectra taken 12 days and 11 months after discovery indicate a deficit of material in the broad line and coronal line regions of this galaxy, while a deep radio non-detection implies that a jet was not launched during this event.

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“…Moreover, such rates can be highly increased for a short time (∼Myr) by the presence of a secondary inspiralling MBH as a consequence of a minor merger [142][143][144] or a star cluster accretion event [145]. To date, a total of ∼15 tidal disruption flare candidates has been identified; most of them in X-ray and UV [146][147][148][149][150], and two in optical [151]. The soft X emission is generally found to be consistent with thermal emission from a T ∼ 10 5 K accretion disk, in line with expectations for a 10 6 -10 7 M MBH [152,153].…”

Section: Secular Evolution At the Small End Of The Mbh Massmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Practical Guide to the Massive Black Hole Cosmic History

Sesana

2012

Advances in Astronomy

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I review our current understanding of massive black hole (MBH) formation and evolution along the cosmic history. After a brief introductory overview of the relevance of MBHs in the hierarchical structure formation paradigm, I discuss the main viable channels for seed BH formation at high redshift and for their subsequent mass growth and spin evolution. The emerging hierarchical picture, where MBHs grow through merger triggered accretion episodes, acquiring their mass while shining as quasars, is overall robust, but too simplistic to explain the diversity observed in MBH phenomenology. I briefly discuss which future observations will help to shed light on the MBH cosmic history in the near future, paying particular attention to the upcoming gravitational wave window.

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A Huge Drop in the X-Ray Luminosity of the Nonactive Galaxy RX J1242.6-1119A, and the First Postflare Spectrum: Testing the Tidal Disruption Scenario

Cited by 169 publications

References 24 publications

A candidate tidal disruption event in the Galaxy cluster Abell 3571

A candidate tidal disruption event in the Galaxy cluster Abell 3571

A tidal disruption-like X-ray flare from the quiescent galaxy SDSS J120136.02+300305.5

A Practical Guide to the Massive Black Hole Cosmic History

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