An 85-s X-ray quasi-periodicity after a stellar tidal disruption by a candidate intermediate-mass black hole
arXiv:2503.01156 · doi:10.1038/s41550-025-02502-0
Abstract
It is still in dispute the existence of intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) with a mass of ~10^3-10^5 solar masses (Msun), which are the missing link between stellar-mass black holes (5-50 Msun) and supermassive black holes (10^6-10^10 Msun). The bright flares from tidal disruption events (TDEs) provide a new and direct way to probe IMBHs. 3XMM J215022.4-055108 is a unique off-nuclear X-ray transient which can be best explained as the TDE by an IMBH in a massive star cluster, though its mass is not well determined. Here, we report the discovery of a transient X-ray quasi-periodicity signal from 3XMM J215022.4-055108 with a period of ~85 seconds (at a significance of >3.51sigma) and fractional root-mean-squared amplitude of ~10%. Furthermore, the signal is coherent with a quality factor ~16. The significance drops to >3.13sigma if considering all light curves with sufficient quality for QPO search. Combining with the results from X-ray continuum fittings, the detection of QPO allows for joint constraints on the black hole mass and dimensionless spin in the range [9.9*10^3-1.6*10^4 Msun]$ and [0.26-0.36], respectively. This result supports the presence of an IMBH in an off-nuclear massive star cluster and may open up the possibility of studying IMBHs through X-ray timing of TDEs.
arXiv comment21 pages, 14 figures, published in Nature Astronomy on 28 February 2025
References in corpus (57)
- emcee: The MCMC Hammer
- X-ray Properties of Black-Hole Binaries
- On characterising the variability properties of X-ray light curves from active galaxies
- The eROSITA X-ray telescope on SRG
- Intermediate-Mass Black Holes
- The runaway growth of intermediate-mass black holes in dense star clusters
- Dwarf Galaxies with Optical Signatures of Active Massive Black Holes
- Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources
- An accreting pulsar with extreme properties drives an ultraluminous x-ray source in NGC 5907
- Measuring the broadband power spectra of active galactic nuclei with RXTE
- The evolution of massive black hole seeds
- Observational evidence for intermediate-mass black holes
- Stingray: A Modern Python Library For Spectral Timing
- A ~50,000 solar mass black hole in the nucleus of RGG 118
- Journey to the M_BH -sigma relation: the fate of low mass black holes in the Universe
- A Bayesian test for periodic signals in red noise
- A radio jet from the optical and x-ray bright stellar tidal disruption flare ASASSN-14li
- High-Frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in black-hole binaries
- Low-mass black holes as the remnants of primordial black hole formation
- A Population of Bona Fide Intermediate Mass Black Holes Identified as Low Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei
- A luminous X-ray outburst from an intermediate-mass black hole in an off-centre star cluster
- Observing Lense-Thirring Precession in Tidal Disruption Flares
- Quasistars and the cosmic evolution of massive black holes
- Quasi periodic oscillations in black hole binaries
- The MAVERIC Survey: Still No Evidence for Accreting Intermediate-mass Black Holes in Globular Clusters
- A 200-s Quasi-Periodicity Following the Tidal Disruption of a Star by a Dormant Black Hole
- Measuring mass and angular momentum of black holes with high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations
- Swift J1644+57: A White Dwarf Tidally Disrupted by a 10^4 M_{odot} Black Hole?
- The Prospects of Observing Tidal Disruption Events with the LSST
- New class of low frequency QPOs: signature of nuclear burning or accretion disk instabilities?
- Lense-Thirring precession around supermassive black holes during tidal disruption events
- Science objectives of the Einstein Probe mission
- A Remarkably Loud Quasi-Periodicity after a Star is Disrupted by a Massive Black Hole
- Spectral Hardening in Black Hole Accretion: Giving Spectral Modelers an f
- A 10,000-solar-mass black hole in the nucleus of a bulgeless dwarf galaxy
- A ~3.8 hour Periodicity from an Ultrasoft Active Galactic Nucleus Candidate
- Continuum-Fitting the X-ray Spectra of Tidal Disruption Events
- Maximum likelihood fitting of X-ray power density spectra: Application to high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations from the neutron star X-ray binary 4U1608-522
- Detection of a possible X-ray Quasi-periodic Oscillation in the Active Galactic Nucleus 1H~0707-495
- SDSS J160531.84+174826.1: A Dwarf Disk Galaxy With An Intermediate-Mass Black Hole
- Multiwavelength Follow-up of the Hyperluminous Intermediate-mass Black Hole Candidate 3XMM J215022.4-055108
- Evidence for a Compact Object in the Aftermath of the Extra-Galactic Transient AT2018cow
- A Tidal Disruption Event in a Nearby Galaxy Hosting an Intermediate Mass Black Hole
- Mass, Spin, and Ultralight Boson Constraints from the Intermediate Mass Black Hole in the Tidal Disruption Event 3XMM J215022.4-055108
- Tidal Disruption of a Main-Sequence Star by an Intermediate-Mass Black Hole: A Bright Decade
- Universal scaling of the 3:2 twin-peak quasi-periodic oscillation frequencies with black hole mass and spin revisited
- An X-ray periodicity of 1.8 hours in a narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 766
- Nozzle Shocks, Disk Tearing and Streamers Drive Rapid Accretion in 3D GRMHD Simulations of Warped Thin Disks
- Disk Tearing Leads to Low and High Frequency Quasi Periodic Oscillations in a GRMHD Simulation of a Thin Accretion Disk
- Possible ~0.4 hour X-ray quasi-periodicity from an ultrasoft active galactic nucleus
- A Library of Synthetic X-ray Spectra for Fitting Tidal Disruption Events
- X-ray timing analysis of Cyg X-3 using AstroSat/LAXPC: Detection of milli-hertz quasi-periodic oscillations during the flaring hard X-ray state
- A possible 250-second X-ray quasi-periodicity in the fast blue optical transient AT2018cow
- Long-term X-ray evolution of SDSS J134244.4+053056.1: A more than 18 year-old, long-lived IMBH-TDE candidate
- Detection of Millihertz Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in the X-Ray Binary 1RXS J180408.9342058
- Discovery of a 7 mHz X-Ray Quasi-periodic Oscillation from the most Massive Stellar-mass Black Hole IC 10 X-1
- Phase-resolved spectral analysis of the 11 millihertz quasi-periodic oscillation in the black-hole candidate H1743-322
Cited by in corpus (4)
- Prospects for Time-Domain and Multi-Messenger Science with eXTP
- Compact stellar systems hosting an intermediate mass black hole: magnetohydrodynamic study of inflow-outflow dynamics
- AT2019ijn: a fast-rising, slow-decaying blue optical transient with exceptionally bright radio emission
- X-ray Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Active Galactic Nuclei and Their Implications for the Changing Look Phenomenon