A very luminous jet from the disruption of a star by a massive black hole

Authors

Igor Andreoni, University of Maryland, College Park
Michael W. Coughlin, College of Science and Engineering
Daniel A. Perley, Liverpool John Moores University
Yuhan Yao, California Institute of Technology
Wenbin Lu, Princeton University
S. Bradley Cenko, University of Maryland, College Park
Harsh Kumar, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
Shreya Anand, California Institute of Technology
Anna Y.Q. Ho, University of California, Berkeley
Mansi M. Kasliwal, California Institute of Technology
Antonio de Ugarte Postigo, Astrophysique Relativiste, Théories, Expériences, Metrologie, Instrumentation, Signaux
Ana Sagués-Carracedo, Oskar Klein Centre
Steve Schulze, Oskar Klein Centre
D. Alexander Kann, CSIC - Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA)
S. R. Kulkarni, California Institute of Technology
Jesper Sollerman, Oskar Klein Centre
Nial Tanvir, University of Leicester
Armin Rest, Space Telescope Science Institute
Luca Izzo, Niels Bohr Institutet
Jean J. Somalwar, California Institute of Technology
David L. Kaplan, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Tomás Ahumada, College of Computer, Mathematical, & Natural Sciences
G. C. Anupama, Indian Institute of Astrophysics
Katie Auchettl, School of Physics
Sudhanshu Barway, Indian Institute of Astrophysics
Eric C. Bellm, University of Washington
Varun Bhalerao, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
Joshua S. Bloom, University of California, Berkeley
Michael Bremer, IRAM Institut de RadioAstronomie Millimétrique
Mattia Bulla, Oskar Klein Centre
Eric Burns, Louisiana State University
Sergio Campana, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera
Poonam Chandra, National Centre for Radio Astrophysics India

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-15-2022

Abstract

Tidal disruption events (TDEs) are bursts of electromagnetic energy that are released when supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies violently disrupt a star that passes too close¹. TDEs provide a window through which to study accretion onto supermassive black holes; in some rare cases, this accretion leads to launching of a relativistic jet^2–9, but the necessary conditions are not fully understood. The best-studied jetted TDE so far is Swift J1644+57, which was discovered in γ-rays, but was too obscured by dust to be seen at optical wavelengths. Here we report the optical detection of AT2022cmc, a rapidly fading source at cosmological distance (redshift z = 1.19325) the unique light curve of which transitioned into a luminous plateau within days. Observations of a bright counterpart at other wavelengths, including X-ray, submillimetre and radio, supports the interpretation of AT2022cmc as a jetted TDE containing a synchrotron ‘afterglow’, probably launched by a supermassive black hole with spin greater than approximately 0.3. Using four years of Zwicky Transient Facility¹⁰ survey data, we calculate a rate of 0.02−0.01+0.04 per gigapascals cubed per year for on-axis jetted TDEs on the basis of the luminous, fast-fading red component, thus providing a measurement complementary to the rates derived from X-ray and radio observations¹¹. Correcting for the beaming angle effects, this rate confirms that approximately 1 per cent of TDEs have relativistic jets. Optical surveys can use AT2022cmc as a prototype to unveil a population of jetted TDEs.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Nature

First Page

430

Last Page

434

Recommended Citation

Andreoni, I., Coughlin, M., Perley, D., Yao, Y., Lu, W., Cenko, S., Kumar, H., Anand, S., Ho, A., Kasliwal, M., de Ugarte Postigo, A., Sagués-Carracedo, A., Schulze, S., Kann, D., Kulkarni, S., Sollerman, J., Tanvir, N., Rest, A., Izzo, L., Somalwar, J., Kaplan, D., Ahumada, T., Anupama, G., Auchettl, K., Barway, S., Bellm, E., Bhalerao, V., Bloom, J., Bremer, M., Bulla, M., Burns, E., Campana, S., & Chandra, P. (2022). A very luminous jet from the disruption of a star by a massive black hole. Nature, 612 (7940), 430-434. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05465-8