Quasi--Periodic Eruptions from Galaxy Nuclei

Abstract

I consider quasi--periodic eruptions (QPEs) from galaxy nuclei. All the known cases fit naturally into a picture of accretion from white dwarfs (WDs) in highly eccentric orbits about the central black holes which decay through gravitational wave emission. I argue that ESO 243-39 HLX--1 is a QPE source at an earlier stages of this evolution, with correspondingly a longer period, more extreme eccentricity, and significantly more massive WD donor. I show explicitly that mass transfer in QPE systems is always highly stable, despite recent claims to the contrary in the literature. This stability may explain the alternating long--short eruptions seen in some QPE sources. As the WD orbit decays, the eruptions occupy larger fractions of the orbit and become brighter, making searches for quasi--periodicities in bright low--mass galaxy nuclei potentially fruitful.

Accepted for MNRAS - final version

References in corpus (7)

• GSN 069 -- A Tidal Disruption Near-Miss
• A self-lensing binary massive black hole interpretation of quasi-periodic eruptions
• Evidence of a tidal disruption event in GSN 069 from the abnormal carbon and nitrogen abundance ratio
• Milli-Hertz Gravitational Wave Background Produced by Quasi-Periodic Eruptions
• HLX-1 may be an SS433 system
• Possible ~0.4 hour X-ray quasi-periodicity from an ultrasoft active galactic nucleus
• Investigation of X-ray timing and spectral properties of ESO 243-49 HLX-1 with long-term Swift Monitoring

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Ultraluminous X-ray sources
• Alive and kicking: A new QPE phase in GSN 069 revealing a quiescent luminosity threshold for QPEs
• Monthly quasi-periodic eruptions from repeated stellar disruption by a massive black hole
• Period Evolution of Repeating Transients in Galactic Nuclei
• Eppur si muove: Evidence of disc precession or a sub-milliparsec SMBH binary in the QPE-emitting galaxy GSN 069
• Time-resolved Hubble Space Telescope UV observations of an X-ray quasi-periodic eruption source
• Angular Momentum Transfer in QPEs from Galaxy Nuclei
• Why are Quasiperiodic Eruptions only Found in Low-Mass Galaxies?
• QPE or QPO? -- Quasiperiodic Activity in Low-Mass Galaxy Nuclei
• Repeated partial disruptions in a WD-NS or WD-BH merger modulate the prompt emission of long-duration merger-type GRBs
• SN 2022jli: The ultraluminous birth of a low-mass X-ray binary
• Partial Tidal Disruption Events by Intermediate-mass Black Holes in Supermassive and Intermediate-mass Black Hole Binaries