The Rapidly Spinning Intermediate-Mass Black Hole 3XMM J150052.0+015452

Z. Cao; P. G. Jonker; S. Wen; N. C. Stone; A. I. Zabludoff

doi:10.1093/mnras/stac3539

paper

The Rapidly Spinning Intermediate-Mass Black Hole 3XMM J150052.0+015452

arXiv:2211.16936 · doi:10.1093/mnras/stac3539

Abstract

A star tidally disrupted by a black hole can form an accretion disc with a super-Eddington mass accretion rate; the X-ray emission produced by the inner disc provides constraints on the black hole mass $M_{∙}$ and dimensionless spin parameter $a_{∙}$ . Previous studies have suggested that the $M_{∙}$ responsible for the tidal disruption event 3XMM J150052.0+015452 (hereafter J150052) is $\sim$ 10 $^{5} M_{⊙}$ , in the intermediate black hole (IMBH) regime. Fitting multi-epoch XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray spectra obtained after 2008 during the source's decade-long decay, with our latest slim accretion disc model gives $M_{∙} = 2. 0_{- 0.3}^{+ 1.0} \times 1 0^{5} M_{⊙}$ (at 68% confidence) and $a_{∙} > 0.97$ (a 84.1% confidence lower limit). The spectra obtained between 2008-2014 are significantly harder than those after 2014, an evolution that can be well explained by including the effects of inverse-Comptonisation by a corona on the early-time spectra. The corona is present when the source accretion rate is super-Eddington, while there is no evidence for its effect in data obtained after 2014, when the mass accretion rate is around the Eddington-limit. Based on our spectral study, we infer that the corona is optically thick and warm ( $k T_{e} = 2. 3_{- 0.8}^{+ 2.7}$ keV). Our mass and spin measurements of J150052 confirm it as an IMBH and point to a rapid, near extremal, spin. These $M_{∙}$ and $a_{∙}$ values rule out both vector bosons and axions of masses $\sim 1 0^{- 16}$ eV.

arXiv comment11 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

The Rapidly Spinning Intermediate-Mass Black Hole 3XMM J150052.0+015452

Abstract

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