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Register a new userThe Unusual Late-Time Evolution of the Tidal Disruption Event ASASSN-15oi
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We present late-time optical spectroscopy and X-ray, UV, and optical photometry of the nearby ($d=214$ Mpc, $z=0.0479$) tidal disruption event (TDE) ASASSN-15oi. The optical spectra span 450 days after discovery and show little remaining transient emission or evolution after roughly 3 months. In contrast, the Swift and XMM-Newton observations indicate the presence of evolving X-ray emission and lingering thermal UV emission that is still present 600 days after discovery. The thermal component of the X-ray emission shows a unique, slow brightening by roughly an order of magnitude to become the dominant source of emission from the TDE at later times, while the hard component of the X-ray emission remains weak and relatively constant throughout the flare. The TDE radiated $(1.32pm0.06)times10^{51}$ ergs across all wavelengths, and the UV and optical emission is consistent with a power law decline and potentially indicative of a late-time shift in the power-law index that could be caused by a transition in the dominant emission mechanism.
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We present late-time observations by Swift and XMM-Newton of the tidal disruption event (TDE) ASASSN-15oi that reveal that the source brightened in the X-rays by a factor of $sim10$ one year after its discovery, while it faded in the UV/optical by a factor of $sim 100$. The XMM-Newton observations measure a soft X-ray blackbody component with $kT_{rm bb} sim 45$ eV, corresponding to radiation from several gravitational radii of a central $sim 10^6 M_odot$ black hole. The last Swift epoch taken almost 600 days after discovery shows that the X-ray source has faded back to its levels during the UV/optical peak. The timescale of the X-ray brightening suggests that the X-ray emission could be coming from delayed accretion through a newly forming debris disk, and that the prompt UV/optical emission is from the prior circularization of the disk through stream-stream collisions. The lack of spectral evolution during the X-ray brightening disfavors ionization breakout of a TDE veiled by obscuring material. This is the first time a TDE has been shown to have a delayed peak in soft X-rays relative to the UV/optical peak, which may be the first clear signature of the real-time assembly of a nascent accretion disk, and provides strong evidence for the origin of the UV/optical emission from circularization, as opposed to reprocessed emission of accretion radiation.
We present ground-based and Swift photometric and spectroscopic observations of the tidal disruption event (TDE) ASASSN-15oi, discovered at the center of 2MASX J20390918-3045201 ($dsimeq216$ Mpc) by the All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN). The source peaked at a bolometric luminosity of $Lsimeq1.3times10^{44}$ ergs s$^{-1}$ and radiated a total energy of $Esimeq6.6times10^{50}$ ergs over the first $sim3.5$ months of observations. The early optical/UV emission of the source can be fit by a blackbody with temperature increasing from $Tsim2times10^4$ K to $Tsim4times10^4$ K while the luminosity declines from $Lsimeq1.3times10^{44}$ ergs s$^{-1}$ to $Lsimeq2.3times10^{43}$ ergs s$^{-1}$, requiring the photosphere to be shrinking rapidly. The optical/UV luminosity decline during this period is most consistent with an exponential decline, $Lpropto e^{-(t-t_0)/tau}$, with $tau simeq46.5$ days for $t_0simeq57241.6$ (MJD), while a power-law decline of $Lpropto (t-t_0)^{-alpha}$ with $t_0simeq57212.3$ and $alpha=1.62$ provides a moderately worse fit. ASASSN-15oi also exhibits roughly constant soft X-ray emission that is significantly weaker than the optical/UV emission. Spectra of the source show broad helium emission lines and strong blue continuum emission in early epochs, although these features fade rapidly and are not present $sim3$ months after discovery. The early spectroscopic features and color evolution of ASASSN-15oi are consistent with a TDE, but the rapid spectral evolution is unique among optically-selected TDEs.
We report on late time radio and X-ray observations of the tidal disruption event candidate ASASSN-14li, covering the first 1000 days of the decay phase. For the first $sim200$ days the radio and X-ray emission fade in concert. This phase is better fit by an exponential decay at X-ray wavelengths, while the radio emission is well described by either an exponential or the canonical $t^{-5/3}$ decay assumed for tidal disruption events. The correlation between radio and X-ray emission during this period can be fit as $L_{R}propto L_{X}^{1.9pm0.2}$. After 400 days the radio emission at $15.5,textrm{GHz}$ has reached a plateau level of $244pm8,mutextrm{Jy}$ which it maintains for at least the next 600 days, while the X-ray emission continues to fade exponentially. This steady level of radio emission is likely due to relic radio lobes from the weak AGN-like activity implied by historical radio observations. We note that while most existing models are based upon the evolution of ejecta which are decoupled from the central black hole, the radio : X-ray correlation during the declining phase is also consistent with core jet emission coupled to a radiatively efficient accretion flow.
Stars that pass too close to a super-massive black hole may be disrupted by strong tidal forces. OGLE16aaa is one such tidal disruption event (TDE) which rapidly brightened and peaked in the optical/UV bands in early 2016 and subsequently decayed over the rest of the year. OGLE16aaa was detected in an XMM-Newton X-ray observation on June 9, 2016 with a flux slightly below the Swift/XRT upper limits obtained during the optical light curve peak. Between June 16-21, 2016, Swift/XRT also detected OGLE16aaa and based on the stacked spectrum, we could infer that the X-ray luminosity had jumped up by more than a factor of ten in just one week. No brightening signal was seen in the simultaneous optical/UV data to cause the X-ray luminosity to exceed the optical/UV one. A further XMM-Newton observation on November 30, 2016 showed that almost a year after the optical/UV peak, the X-ray emission was still at an elevated level, while the optical/UV flux decay had already leveled off to values comparable to those of the host galaxy. In all X-ray observations, the spectra were nicely modeled with a 50-70 eV thermal component with no intrinsic absorption, with a weak X-ray tail seen only in the November 30 XMM-Newton observation. The late-time X-ray behavior of OGLE16aaa strongly resembles the tidal disruption events ASASSN-15oi and AT2019azh. We were able to pinpoint the time delay between the initial optical TDE onset and the X-ray brightening to $182 pm 5$ days, which may possibly represent the timescale between the initial circularization of the disrupted star around the super-massive black hole and the subsequent delayed accretion. Alternatively, the delayed X-ray brightening could be related to a rapid clearing of a thick envelope that covers the central X-ray engine during the first six months.
ASASSN-14ae is a candidate tidal disruption event (TDE) found at the center of SDSS J110840.11+340552.2 ($dsimeq200$~Mpc) by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN). We present ground-based and Swift follow-up photometric and spectroscopic observations of the source, finding that the transient had a peak luminosity of $Lsimeq8times10^{43}$~erg~s$^{-1}$ and a total integrated energy of $Esimeq1.7times10^{50}$ ergs radiated over the $sim5$ months of observations presented. The blackbody temperature of the transient remains roughly constant at $Tsim20,000$~K while the luminosity declines by nearly 1.5 orders of magnitude during this time, a drop that is most consistent with an exponential, $Lpropto e^{-t/t_0}$ with $t_0simeq39$~days. The source has broad Balmer lines in emission at all epochs as well as a broad He II feature emerging in later epochs. We compare the color and spectral evolution to both supernovae and normal AGN to show that { ame} does not resemble either type of object and conclude that a TDE is the most likely explanation for our observations. At $z=0.0436$, ASASSN-14ae is the lowest-redshift TDE candidate discovered at optical/UV wavelengths to date, and we estimate that ASAS-SN may discover $0.1 - 3$ of these events every year in the future.
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