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Title: Relativistic jet activity from the tidal disruption of a star by a massive black hole [Discovery of the onset of rapid accretion by a dormant massive black hole]

Journal Article · · Nature (London)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10374· OSTI ID:1357206
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  1. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
  2. INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Merate (Italy)
  3. INAF - Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, Palermo (Italy)
  4. Univ. of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV (United States)
  5. Univ. of Leicester, Leicester (United Kingdom)
  6. CRESST, Greenbelt, MD (United States); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States)
  7. Univ. College London, Dorking (United Kingdom)
  8. CRESST, Greenbelt, MD (United States); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States)
  9. ASI Science Data Center, Frascati (Italy)
  10. INAF- Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari, Capoterra (Italy)
  11. Kyoto Univ., Kyoto (Japan)
  12. CRESST, Greenbelt, MD (United States); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States); Univ. Space Research Assoc., Columbia, MD (United States)
  13. Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Taipei (Taiwan)
  14. Seoul National Univ., Seoul (Republic of Korea)
  15. INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Monteporzio Catone (Italy)
  16. Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), Daejeon (Republic of Korea)
  17. Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo (Japan); RIKEN, Saitama (Japan)
  18. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  19. Nihon Univ., Tokyo (Japan)
  20. Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)
  21. RIKEN, Saitama (Japan)
  22. Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), Daejeon (Republic of Korea); Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo (Japan)
  23. National Central Univ., Chung-Li (Taiwan)
  24. Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo (Japan)
  25. ASI Science Data Center, Frascati (Italy); INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, Monteporzio Catone (Italy)

Supermassive black holes have powerful gravitational fields with strong gradients that can destroy stars that get too close producing a bright flare in ultraviolet and X-ray spectral regions from stellar debris that forms an accretion disk around the black hole. The aftermath of this process may have been seen several times over the past two decades in the form of sparsely sampled, slowly fading emission from distant galaxies, but the onset of the stellar disruption event has not hitherto been observed. Here we report observations of a bright X-ray flare from the extragalactic transient Swift J164449.3+573451. This source increased in brightness in the X-ray band by a factor of at least 10,000 since 1990 and by a factor of at least 100 since early 2010. We conclude that we have captured the onset of relativistic jet activity from a supermassive black hole. A companion paper comes to similar conclusions on the basis of radio observations. Furthermore, this event is probably due to the tidal disruption of a star falling into a supermassive black hole, but the detailed behaviour differs from current theoretical models of such events.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1357206
Journal Information:
Nature (London), Vol. 476, Issue 7361; ISSN 0028-0836
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 400 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (156)

Stellar tidal disruption events in general relativity journal February 2019
Energetic and Broad Band Spectral Distribution of Emission from Astronomical Jets journal July 2013
Hard X-Ray/Soft Gamma-Ray Experiments and Missions: Overview and Prospects journal October 2017
Observatory science with eXTP journal August 2018
An ultraviolet–optical flare from the tidal disruption of a helium-rich stellar core journal May 2012
A magnetar-powered X-ray transient as the aftermath of a binary neutron-star merger journal April 2019
A tidal disruption-like X-ray flare from the quiescent galaxy SDSS J120136.02+300305.5 journal May 2012
Very high energy gamma-ray observation of the peculiar transient event Swift J1644+57 with the MAGIC telescopes and AGILE journal April 2013
GROND coverage of the main peak of gamma-ray burst 130925A journal August 2014
The optical/NIR afterglow of GRB 111209A: Complex yet not unprecedented journal September 2018
A multi-component model for observed astrophysical neutrinos journal July 2018
Tidal disruption of stars by supermassive black holes: The X-ray view journal January 2012
Discovery of a tidal disruption event candidate from the 2XMM catalog journal January 2012
Relativistic tidal disruption events journal January 2012
Time scales in tidal disruption events journal January 2012
Prompt emission from tidal disruptions of white dwarfs by intermediate mass black holes journal January 2012
Radio follow-up observations of stellar tidal disruption flares: Constraints on off-axis jets journal January 2012
Evolution and precession of accretion disk in tidal disruption events journal January 2012
SWIFT J1644+57: A WHITE DWARF TIDALLY DISRUPTED BY A 10 4 M BLACK HOLE? journal November 2011
Jets from Tidal Disruptions of Stars by Black Holes journal March 2012
An Ultrasoft X-Ray Flare from 3xmm J152130.7+074916: a Tidal Disruption Event Candidate journal September 2015
Stellar and gas Dynamical Model for Tidal Disruption Events in a Quiescent Galaxy journal November 2015
THE SWIFT /BAT HARD X-RAY TRANSIENT MONITOR journal October 2013
Double Tidal Disruptions in Galactic Nuclei journal May 2015
Can a satellite galaxy merger explain the active past of the Galactic Centre? journal February 2013
A tidal flare candidate in Abell 1795★†‡ journal September 2013
SRG/eROSITA prospects for the detection of stellar tidal disruption flares journal October 2013
Swift J1644+57 gone MAD: the case for dynamically important magnetic flux threading the black hole in a jetted tidal disruption event journal November 2013
Finite, intense accretion bursts from tidal disruption of stars on bound orbits journal July 2013
The puzzling source IGR J17361–4441 in NGC 6388: a possible planetary tidal disruption event journal August 2014
Powerful radiative jets in supercritical accretion discs around non-spinning black holes journal September 2015
Rates of stellar tidal disruption as probes of the supermassive black hole mass function journal November 2015
Circularization of tidally disrupted stars around spinning supermassive black holes journal June 2016
A bright year for tidal disruptions journal June 2016
Stellar binaries in galactic nuclei: tidally stimulated mergers followed by tidal disruptions journal April 2017
A new, faint population of X-ray transients journal February 2017
Tidal dissipation and evolution of white dwarfs around massive black holes: an eccentric path to tidal disruption journal March 2017
The GRB–SLSN connection: misaligned magnetars, weak jet emergence, and observational signatures journal January 2018
Long-term radio and X-ray evolution of the tidal disruption event ASASSN-14li journal January 2018
Breaking degeneracy in jet dynamics: multi-epoch joint modelling of the BL Lac PKS 2155–304 journal October 2018
Tidal disruption events can power the observed AGN in dwarf galaxies journal November 2018
The fast, luminous ultraviolet transient AT2018cow: extreme supernova, or disruption of a star by an intermediate-mass black hole? journal December 2018
Tidal disruption of a white dwarf by a black hole: the diversity of nucleosynthesis, explosion energy, and the fate of debris streams journal March 2018
Can we quickly flag ultra-long gamma-ray bursts? journal April 2019
Evidence for a TDE origin of the radio transient Cygnus A-2 journal April 2019
The tidal disruption event AT2017eqx: spectroscopic evolution from hydrogen rich to poor suggests an atmosphere and outflow journal July 2019
The Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey (S-PLUS): improved SEDs, morphologies, and redshifts with 12 optical filters journal August 2019
Polarimetry of relativistic tidal disruption event Swift J2058+0516 journal November 2019
Self-intersection of the fallback stream in tidal disruption events journal December 2019
Estimation of the jet inclination angle for the TDE Swift J1644+57 journal December 2019
Probing the black hole merger history in clusters using stellar tidal disruptions journal August 2019
Tidal-disruption rate of stars by spinning supermassive black holes journal January 2012
Black-hole spin dependence in the light curves of tidal disruption events journal September 2012
PTF10iya: a short-lived, luminous flare from the nuclear region of a star-forming galaxy: PTF10iya: a short-lived, luminous flare journal January 2012
Swift 1644+57: the longest gamma-ray burst?: The longest gamma-ray burst? journal November 2011
A Universal Scaling for the Energetics of Relativistic Jets from Black Hole Systems journal December 2012
Explosions throughout the universe journal February 2017
Open Questions in Cosmic-Ray Research at Ultrahigh Energies journal June 2019
COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF THE X-RAY FLARES FROM GAMMA-RAY BURSTS OBSERVED BY SWIFT journal June 2016
The Post-starburst Evolution of Tidal Disruption Event Host Galaxies journal January 2017
New Physical Insights about Tidal Disruption Events from a Comprehensive Observational Inventory at X-Ray Wavelengths journal April 2017
High-energy Neutrino Flares from X-Ray Bright and Dark Tidal Disruption Events journal March 2017
Revisiting Optical Tidal Disruption Events with iPTF16axa journal June 2017
iPTF16fnl: A Faint and Fast Tidal Disruption Event in an E+A Galaxy journal July 2017
Radio Monitoring of the Tidal Disruption Event Swift J164449.3+573451. III. Late-time Jet Energetics and a Deviation from Equipartition journal February 2018
Classification of Tidal Disruption Events Based on Stellar Orbital Properties journal March 2018
Discovery of a Time Lag between the Soft X-Ray and Radio Emission of the Tidal Disruption Flare ASASSN-14li: Evidence for Linear Disk–Jet Coupling journal March 2018
On the Missing Energy Puzzle of Tidal Disruption Events journal September 2018
Weighing Black Holes Using Tidal Disruption Events journal February 2019
The Broad Absorption Line Tidal Disruption Event iPTF15af: Optical and Ultraviolet Evolution journal March 2019
A Broadband Look at the Old and New ULXs of NGC 6946 journal August 2019
Polarization of Astrophysical Events with Precessing Jets journal June 2019
Tidal Disruption Events in Active Galactic Nuclei journal August 2019
Discovery and Early Evolution of ASASSN-19bt, the First TDE Detected by TESS journal September 2019
Neutrino Emissions from Tidal Disruption Remnants journal November 2019
A New Microquasar Candidate in M83 journal January 2020
A Unified Model for Tidal Disruption Events journal May 2018
X-Ray Fluorescence from Super-Eddington Accreting Black Holes journal October 2019
CDF-S XT1 and XT2: White Dwarf Tidal Disruption Events by Intermediate-mass Black Holes? journal October 2019
A Bright Electromagnetic Counterpart to Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals journal November 2019
Energetic and Broad Band Spectral Distribution of Emission from Astronomical Jets book January 2013
Radio Afterglow of the Jetted Tidal Disruption Event Swift J1644+57 book November 2020
Evolution of Accretion Disks in Tidal Disruption Events journal March 2014
Recurring flares from supermassive black hole binaries: implications for tidal disruption candidates and OJ 287 journal July 2013
Six months of multiwavelength follow-up of the tidal disruption candidate ASASSN-14li and implied TDE rates from ASAS-SN journal November 2015
ASASSN-15oi: a rapidly evolving, luminous tidal disruption event at 216 Mpc journal September 2016
Swift spectra of AT2018cow: a white dwarf tidal disruption event? journal January 2019
Explosions throughout the universe conference December 2017
Very high energy gamma-ray observation of the peculiar transient event Swift J1644+57 with the MAGIC telescopes and AGILE text January 2013
High energy neutrinos from the tidal disruption of stars text January 2017
Radio afterglow of the jetted tidal disruption event Swift J1644+57 journal January 2012
Relativistic effects in the tidal interaction between a white dwarf and a massive black hole in Fermi normal coordinates text January 2013
Tidally disrupted stars as a possible origin of both cosmic rays and neutrinos at the highest energies text January 2018
A multi-component model for observed astrophysical neutrinos text January 2018
Open Questions in Cosmic-Ray Research at Ultrahigh Energies text January 2019
Radio Afterglow of the Jetted Tidal Disruption Event Swift J1644+57 book November 2020
High Energy Neutrinos from the Tidal Disruption of Stars text January 2016
Tidally disrupted stars as a possible origin of both cosmic rays and neutrinos at the highest energies text January 2017
A multi-component model for observed astrophysical neutrinos text January 2018
Open Questions in Cosmic-Ray Research at Ultrahigh Energies text January 2019
Can a Satellite Galaxy Merger Explain the Active Past of the Galactic Center? text January 2011
Tidal disruption rate of stars by spinning supermassive black holes text January 2011
Observing Lense-Thirring Precession in Tidal Disruption Flares text January 2011
Black-Hole Spin Dependence in the Light Curves of Tidal Disruption Events text January 2012
Time Scales in Tidal Disruption Events text January 2012
GRB060218 as a Tidal Disruption of a White Dwarf by an Intermediate Mass Black Hole text January 2012
Prompt Emission from Tidal Disruptions of White Dwarfs by Intermediate Mass Black Holes text January 2012
Swift J1644+57 gone MAD: the case for dynamically-important magnetic flux threading the black hole in a jetted tidal disruption event text January 2013
A new population of ultra-long duration gamma-ray bursts text January 2013
Recurring flares from supermassive black hole binaries: implications for tidal disruption candidates and OJ 287 text January 2013
SRG/eROSITA prospects for the detection of stellar tidal disruption flares text January 2013
Evolution of Accretion Disks in Tidal Disruption Events text January 2013
A Tidal Flare Candidate in Abell 1795 text January 2013
A Continuum of H- to He-Rich Tidal Disruption Candidates With a Preference for E+A Galaxies text January 2014
Tidal disruption of a star in the Schwarzschild spacetime: relativistic effects in the return rate of debris text January 2014
Ultra-Close Encounters of Stars With Massive Black Holes: Tidal Disruption Events With Prompt Hyperaccretion text January 2015
Powerful radiative jets in super-critical accretion disks around non-spinning black holes text January 2015
Double tidal disruptions in galactic nuclei text January 2015
Hidden Cosmic-Ray Accelerators as an Origin of TeV-PeV Cosmic Neutrinos text January 2015
An Ultrasoft X-ray Flare from 3XMM J152130.7+074916: a Tidal Disruption Event Candidate text January 2015
Stellar and gas dynamical model for tidal disruption events in a quiescent galaxy text January 2015
Tidal disruption jets of supermassive black holes as hidden sources of cosmic rays: explaining the IceCube TeV-PeV neutrinos text January 2015
Tidal Disruption Events Prefer Unusual Host Galaxies text January 2016
Comprehensive study of the X-ray flares from gamma-ray bursts observed by Swift text January 2016
The Post-Starburst Evolution of Tidal Disruption Event Host Galaxies text January 2016
New physical insights about Tidal Disruption Events from a comprehensive observational inventory at X-ray wavelengths text January 2016
A New, Faint Population of X-ray Transients text January 2017
iPTF16fnl: a faint and fast tidal disruption event in an E+A galaxy text January 2017
Revisiting optical tidal disruption events with iPTF16axa text January 2017
The GRB-SLSN Connection: mis-aligned magnetars, weak jet emergence, and observational signatures text January 2017
Tidal Disruption of a White Dwarf by a Black Hole: The Diversity of Nucleosynthesis, Explosion Energy, and the Fate of Debris Streams text January 2017
The Optical/NIR afterglow of GRB 111209A: Complex yet not Unprecedented text January 2017
Discovery of a time lag between the soft X-ray and radio emission of the tidal disruption flare ASASSN-14li: Evidence for linear disk-jet coupling text January 2017
Tidally disrupted stars as a possible origin of both cosmic rays and neutrinos at the highest energies text January 2017
A Multi-Component Model for the Observed Astrophysical Neutrinos text January 2018
Weighing Black Holes using Tidal Disruption Events text January 2018
On the Missing Energy Puzzle of Tidal Disruption Events text January 2018
Classification of Tidal Disruption Events Based on Stellar Orbital Properties text January 2018
The Broad Absorption Line Tidal Disruption Event iPTF15af: Optical and Ultraviolet Evolution text January 2018
Breaking degeneracy in jet dynamics: multi-epoch joint modelling of the BL Lac PKS 2155-304 text January 2018
Observatory science with eXTP text January 2018
Probing the Black Hole Merger History in Clusters using Stellar Tidal Disruptions text January 2019
A magnetar-powered X-ray transient as the aftermath of a binary neutron-star merger text January 2019
Tidal disruption events in active galactic nuclei text January 2019
The Southern Photometric Local Universe Survey (S-PLUS): improved SEDs, morphologies and redshifts with 12 optical filters text January 2019
Neutrino Emissions from Tidal Disruption Remnants text January 2019
Polarimetry of relativistic tidal disruption event Swift J2058+0516 text January 2019
A bright electromagnetic counterpart to extreme mass ratio inspirals text January 2019
A New Microquasar Candidate in M83 text January 2019
Estimation of the jet inclination angle for the TDE Swift J1644+57 text January 2019
Liverpool telescope 2: a new robotic facility for rapid transient follow-up journal March 2015
The Physics of Accretion Discs, Winds and Jets in Tidal Disruption Events journal January 2021
The THESEUS space mission concept: science case, design and expected performances journal July 2018
Multi-Messenger Signatures of PeV-ZeV Cosmic Ray Sources journal April 2018
Radiative Emission Mechanisms of Tidal Disruption Events text January 2020
X-ray properties of TDEs text January 2021