Monthly quasi-periodic eruptions from repeated stellar disruption by a massive black hole

P. A. Evans; C. J. Nixon; S. Campana; P. Charalampopoulos; D. A. Perley; A. A. Breeveld; K. L. Page; S. R. Oates; R. A. J. Eyles-Ferris; D. B. Malesani; L. Izzo; M. R. Goad; P. T. O’Brien; J. P. Osborne; B. Sbarufatti

doi:10.1038/s41550-023-02073-y

Monthly quasi-periodic eruptions from repeated stellar disruption by a massive black hole

P. A. Evans^*, C. J. Nixon, S. Campana, P. Charalampopoulos, D. A. Perley, A. A. Breeveld, K. L. Page, S. R. Oates, R. A. J. Eyles-Ferris, D. B. Malesani, L. Izzo, M. R. Goad, P. T. O’Brien, J. P. Osborne, B. Sbarufatti

^*Corresponding author for this work

Physics and Astronomy

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Abstract

In recent years, searches of archival X-ray data have revealed galaxies exhibiting nuclear quasi-periodic eruptions with periods of several hours. These are reminiscent of the tidal disruption of a star by a supermassive black hole. The repeated, partial stripping of a white dwarf in an eccentric orbit around an ~10⁵ M_⊙ black hole provides an attractive model. A separate class of periodic nuclear transients, with much longer timescales, have recently been discovered optically and may arise from the partial stripping of a main-sequence star by an ~10⁷ M_⊙ black hole. No clear connection between these classes has been made. We present the discovery of an X-ray nuclear transient that shows quasi-periodic outbursts with a period of weeks. We discuss possible origins for the emission and propose that this system bridges the two existing classes outlined above. This discovery was made possible by the rapid identification, dissemination and follow-up of an X-ray transient found by the new live Swift-XRT transient detector, demonstrating the importance of low-latency, sensitive searches for X-ray transients.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1368-1375
Number of pages	8
Journal	Nature Astronomy
Volume	7
Issue number	11
Early online date	7 Sept 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-023-02073-y
Publication status	Published - Nov 2023

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgments:
This work made use of data supplied by the UK Swift Science Data Centre at the University of Leicester. We acknowledge the following funding support: UK Space Agency (grant no. ST/X001881/1 to P.A.E., K.L.P., R.A.J.E.-F. and A.A.B.), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (grant no. ST/Y000544/1 to C.J.N. and grant no. ST/W000857/1 to P.T.O'B.), the Leverhulme Trust (grant no. RPG-2021-380 to C.J.N.), the Italian Space Agency (Contract ASI/INAF n. I/004/11/5 to S.C.), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme under the AHEAD2020 project (grant no. 871158 to R.A.J.E.-F.) and the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant no. 725246 to D.B.M.). The Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) is funded by the Danish National Research Foundation under grant no. 140. The Pan-STARRS1 surveys and their public science archive have been made possible through contributions by the Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hawaii, the Pan-STARRS Project Office, the Max Planck Society and its participating institutes (the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching), Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, Queen’s University Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under grant no. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation (grant no. AST-1238877), the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. L.I. was supported by grants from Villum Foundation (project nos. 16599 and 25501). We thank A. Beardmore for help with the bootstrapping method for the period analysis.

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Evans, P. A., Nixon, C. J., Campana, S., Charalampopoulos, P., Perley, D. A., Breeveld, A. A., Page, K. L., Oates, S. R., Eyles-Ferris, R. A. J., Malesani, D. B., Izzo, L., Goad, M. R., O’Brien, P. T., Osborne, J. P., & Sbarufatti, B. (2023). Monthly quasi-periodic eruptions from repeated stellar disruption by a massive black hole. Nature Astronomy, 7(11), 1368-1375. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-023-02073-y

@article{71e3b47fe58043929b4ba07b67319e81,

title = "Monthly quasi-periodic eruptions from repeated stellar disruption by a massive black hole",

abstract = "In recent years, searches of archival X-ray data have revealed galaxies exhibiting nuclear quasi-periodic eruptions with periods of several hours. These are reminiscent of the tidal disruption of a star by a supermassive black hole. The repeated, partial stripping of a white dwarf in an eccentric orbit around an ~105 M⊙ black hole provides an attractive model. A separate class of periodic nuclear transients, with much longer timescales, have recently been discovered optically and may arise from the partial stripping of a main-sequence star by an ~107 M⊙ black hole. No clear connection between these classes has been made. We present the discovery of an X-ray nuclear transient that shows quasi-periodic outbursts with a period of weeks. We discuss possible origins for the emission and propose that this system bridges the two existing classes outlined above. This discovery was made possible by the rapid identification, dissemination and follow-up of an X-ray transient found by the new live Swift-XRT transient detector, demonstrating the importance of low-latency, sensitive searches for X-ray transients.",

author = "Evans, {P. A.} and Nixon, {C. J.} and S. Campana and P. Charalampopoulos and Perley, {D. A.} and Breeveld, {A. A.} and Page, {K. L.} and Oates, {S. R.} and Eyles-Ferris, {R. A. J.} and Malesani, {D. B.} and L. Izzo and Goad, {M. R.} and O{\textquoteright}Brien, {P. T.} and Osborne, {J. P.} and B. Sbarufatti",

note = "Acknowledgments: This work made use of data supplied by the UK Swift Science Data Centre at the University of Leicester. We acknowledge the following funding support: UK Space Agency (grant no. ST/X001881/1 to P.A.E., K.L.P., R.A.J.E.-F. and A.A.B.), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (grant no. ST/Y000544/1 to C.J.N. and grant no. ST/W000857/1 to P.T.O'B.), the Leverhulme Trust (grant no. RPG-2021-380 to C.J.N.), the Italian Space Agency (Contract ASI/INAF n. I/004/11/5 to S.C.), the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 Programme under the AHEAD2020 project (grant no. 871158 to R.A.J.E.-F.) and the European Research Council under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant no. 725246 to D.B.M.). The Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) is funded by the Danish National Research Foundation under grant no. 140. The Pan-STARRS1 surveys and their public science archive have been made possible through contributions by the Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hawaii, the Pan-STARRS Project Office, the Max Planck Society and its participating institutes (the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching), Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, Queen{\textquoteright}s University Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under grant no. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation (grant no. AST-1238877), the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. L.I. was supported by grants from Villum Foundation (project nos. 16599 and 25501). We thank A. Beardmore for help with the bootstrapping method for the period analysis.",

year = "2023",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1038/s41550-023-02073-y",

language = "English",

volume = "7",

pages = "1368--1375",

journal = "Nature Astronomy",

issn = "2397-3366",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

number = "11",

}

Evans, PA, Nixon, CJ, Campana, S, Charalampopoulos, P, Perley, DA, Breeveld, AA, Page, KL, Oates, SR, Eyles-Ferris, RAJ, Malesani, DB, Izzo, L, Goad, MR, O’Brien, PT, Osborne, JP & Sbarufatti, B 2023, 'Monthly quasi-periodic eruptions from repeated stellar disruption by a massive black hole', Nature Astronomy, vol. 7, no. 11, pp. 1368-1375. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-023-02073-y

TY - JOUR

T1 - Monthly quasi-periodic eruptions from repeated stellar disruption by a massive black hole

AU - Evans, P. A.

AU - Nixon, C. J.

AU - Campana, S.

AU - Charalampopoulos, P.

AU - Perley, D. A.

AU - Breeveld, A. A.

AU - Page, K. L.

AU - Oates, S. R.

AU - Eyles-Ferris, R. A. J.

AU - Malesani, D. B.

AU - Izzo, L.

AU - Goad, M. R.

AU - O’Brien, P. T.

AU - Osborne, J. P.

AU - Sbarufatti, B.

N1 - Acknowledgments: This work made use of data supplied by the UK Swift Science Data Centre at the University of Leicester. We acknowledge the following funding support: UK Space Agency (grant no. ST/X001881/1 to P.A.E., K.L.P., R.A.J.E.-F. and A.A.B.), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (grant no. ST/Y000544/1 to C.J.N. and grant no. ST/W000857/1 to P.T.O'B.), the Leverhulme Trust (grant no. RPG-2021-380 to C.J.N.), the Italian Space Agency (Contract ASI/INAF n. I/004/11/5 to S.C.), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme under the AHEAD2020 project (grant no. 871158 to R.A.J.E.-F.) and the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant no. 725246 to D.B.M.). The Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) is funded by the Danish National Research Foundation under grant no. 140. The Pan-STARRS1 surveys and their public science archive have been made possible through contributions by the Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hawaii, the Pan-STARRS Project Office, the Max Planck Society and its participating institutes (the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching), Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, Queen’s University Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under grant no. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation (grant no. AST-1238877), the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. L.I. was supported by grants from Villum Foundation (project nos. 16599 and 25501). We thank A. Beardmore for help with the bootstrapping method for the period analysis.

PY - 2023/11

Y1 - 2023/11

N2 - In recent years, searches of archival X-ray data have revealed galaxies exhibiting nuclear quasi-periodic eruptions with periods of several hours. These are reminiscent of the tidal disruption of a star by a supermassive black hole. The repeated, partial stripping of a white dwarf in an eccentric orbit around an ~105 M⊙ black hole provides an attractive model. A separate class of periodic nuclear transients, with much longer timescales, have recently been discovered optically and may arise from the partial stripping of a main-sequence star by an ~107 M⊙ black hole. No clear connection between these classes has been made. We present the discovery of an X-ray nuclear transient that shows quasi-periodic outbursts with a period of weeks. We discuss possible origins for the emission and propose that this system bridges the two existing classes outlined above. This discovery was made possible by the rapid identification, dissemination and follow-up of an X-ray transient found by the new live Swift-XRT transient detector, demonstrating the importance of low-latency, sensitive searches for X-ray transients.

AB - In recent years, searches of archival X-ray data have revealed galaxies exhibiting nuclear quasi-periodic eruptions with periods of several hours. These are reminiscent of the tidal disruption of a star by a supermassive black hole. The repeated, partial stripping of a white dwarf in an eccentric orbit around an ~105 M⊙ black hole provides an attractive model. A separate class of periodic nuclear transients, with much longer timescales, have recently been discovered optically and may arise from the partial stripping of a main-sequence star by an ~107 M⊙ black hole. No clear connection between these classes has been made. We present the discovery of an X-ray nuclear transient that shows quasi-periodic outbursts with a period of weeks. We discuss possible origins for the emission and propose that this system bridges the two existing classes outlined above. This discovery was made possible by the rapid identification, dissemination and follow-up of an X-ray transient found by the new live Swift-XRT transient detector, demonstrating the importance of low-latency, sensitive searches for X-ray transients.

U2 - 10.1038/s41550-023-02073-y

DO - 10.1038/s41550-023-02073-y

M3 - Article

SN - 2397-3366

VL - 7

SP - 1368

EP - 1375

JO - Nature Astronomy

JF - Nature Astronomy

IS - 11

ER -

Monthly quasi-periodic eruptions from repeated stellar disruption by a massive black hole

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Bibliographical note

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