ASASSN-15lh: a TDE about a maximally rotating $10^9{M}_{\odot }$ black hole

Abstract

We model the light curves of the novel and extremely luminous transient ASASSN-15lh at nine different frequencies, from infrared to ultra-violet photon energies, as an evolving relativistic disc produced in the aftermath of a tidal disruption event. Good fits to all nine light curves are simultaneously obtained when $M_{\mathrm{acc}}\simeq 0.07M_{\odot }$ is accreted onto a black hole of mass $M\simeq 10^9{M}_{\odot }$, and near maximal rotation $a/r_g=0.99$. The best fit black hole mass is consistent with a number of existing estimates from galactic scaling relationships. If confirmed, our results represent the detection of one of the most massive rapidly spinning black holes to date, and are strong evidence for a TDE origin for ASASSN-15lh. This would be the first TDE to be observed in the disc dominated state at optical and infrared frequencies.

5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters. Comments welcome

References in corpus (5)

• The Superluminous Transient ASASSN-15lh as a Tidal Disruption Event from a Kerr Black Hole
• Black hole masses of tidal disruption event host galaxies
• The spectral evolution of disc dominated tidal disruption events
• X-rays from the location of the Bactrian Transient ASASSN-15lh
• The general relativistic thin disc evolution equation

Cited by in corpus (18)

• Observational Constraints on Black Hole Spin
• Fundamental scaling relationships revealed in the optical light curves of tidal disruption events
• Distinguishing Tidal Disruption Events from Impostors
• Enhancement of the tidal disruption event rate in galaxies with a nuclear star cluster: from dwarfs to ellipticals
• An elliptical accretion disk following the tidal disruption event AT 2020zso
• Micro Tidal Disruption Events in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Discovery of the luminous X-ray ignition eRASSt J234402.9$-$352640; I. Tidal disruption event or a rapid increase in accretion in an active galactic nucleus?
• Accretion discs with non-zero central torque
• The maximum mass of a black hole which can tidally disrupt a star: measuring black hole spins with tidal disruption events
• Application of The Wind-Driven Model to A Sample of Tidal Disruption Events
• A maximum X-ray luminosity scale of disc-dominated tidal disruption events
• An upper observable black hole mass scale for tidal disruption events with thermal X-ray spectra
• Hard X-ray emission from a Compton scattering corona in large black hole mass tidal disruption events
• Demographics of Tidal Disruption Events with L-Galaxies: I. Volumetric TDE rates and the abundance of Nuclear Star Clusters
• The Effect of Impact Parameter on Tidal Disruption Events
• An X-ray View of the Ambiguous Nuclear Transient AT2019pev
• The correlations of stellar tidal disruption rates with properties of massive black holes and their host galaxies
• Cosmic distributions of stellar tidal disruptions by massive black holes at galactic centers