Late-time X-ray Observations of the Jetted Tidal Disruption Event AT2022cmc: The Relativistic Jet Shuts Off

Abstract

The tidal disruption event (TDE) AT2022cmc represents the fourth known example of a relativistic jet produced by the tidal disruption of a stray star providing a unique probe of the formation and evolution of relativistic jets in otherwise dormant supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Here we present deep, late-time Chandra observations of AT2022cmc extending to $t_{\mathrm{obs}}\approx 400$ days after disruption. Our observations reveal a sudden decrease in the X-ray brightness by a factor of $\gtrsim 14$ over a factor of $\approx 2.3$ in time, and a deviation from the earlier power-law decline with a steepening $\alpha \gtrsim 3.2$ ($F_X\propto t^{-\alpha }$), steeper than expected for a jet break, and pointing to the cessation of jet activity at $t_{\mathrm{obs}}\approx 215$ days. Such a transition has been observed in two previous TDEs (Swift J1644+57 and Swift J2058+05). From the X-ray luminosity and the timescale of jet shutoff, we parameterize the mass of the SMBH in terms of unknown jet efficiency and accreted mass fraction parameters. Motivated by the disk-jet connection in AGN, we favor black hole masses $\lesssim 10^5{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$ (where the jet and disk luminosities are comparable), and disfavor larger black holes (in which extremely powerful jets are required to outshine their accretion disks). We additionally estimate a total accreted mass of $\approx 0.1{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$. Applying the same formalism to Swift J1644+57 and Swift J2058+05, we favor comparable black hole masses for these TDEs of $\lesssim$ a few $\times 10^5{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$, and suggest that jetted TDEs may preferentially form from lower mass black holes when compared to non-relativistic events, owing to generally lower jet and higher disk efficiencies at higher black hole masses.

arXiv commentAccepted to ApJ; 12 pages, 4 figures

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