paper

XMMSL2 J144605.0+685735 : a slow tidal disruption event

arXiv:1908.01065 · doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201935650

Abstract

Aims. We investigate the evolution of X-ray selected tidal disruption events. Methods. New events are found in near-real time data from XMM-Newton slews and are monitored by multi-wavelength facilities. Results. In August 2016, X-ray emission was detected from the galaxy XMMSL2 J144605.0+685735 (a.k.a. 2MASX 14460522+6857311), a factor 20 times higher than an upper limit from 25 years earlier. The X-ray flux was flat for ~100 days and then fell by a factor 100 over the following 500 days. The UV flux was stable for the first 400 days before fading by a magnitude, while the optical (U,B,V bands) have been roughly constant for 850 days. Optically, the galaxy appears to be quiescent, at a distance of Mpc (z=) with a spectrum consisting of a young stellar population of age 1-5 Gyr, an older population and a total stellar mass of ~6 x solar masses. The bolometric luminosity peaked at L bol ~ ergs s with an X-ray spectrum that may be modeled by a power-law of ~2.6 or Comptonisation of a low-temperature thermal component by thermal electrons. We consider a tidal disruption event to be the most likely cause of the flare. Radio emission was absent in this event down to < 10Jy, which limits the total energy of a hypothetical off-axis jet to E < 5 x ergs. The independent behaviour of the optical, UV and X-ray light curves challenges models where the UV emission is produced by reprocessing of thermal nuclear emission or by stream-stream collisions. We suggest that the observed UV emission may have been produced from a truncated accretion disk and the X-rays from Compton upscattering of these disk photons.

arXiv commentAccepted by A&A

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