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Register a new userDouble-Peaked Balmer Emission Indicating Prompt Accretion Disk Formation in an X-Ray Faint Tidal Disruption Event
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We present the multi-wavelength analysis of the tidal disruption event (TDE) AT~2018hyz (ASASSN-18zj). From follow-up optical spectroscopy, we detect the first unambiguous case of resolved double-peaked Balmer emission in a TDE. The distinct line profile can be well-modelled by a low eccentricity ($eapprox0.1$) accretion disk extending out to $sim$100 $R_{p}$ and a Gaussian component originating from non-disk clouds, though a bipolar outflow origin cannot be completely ruled out. Our analysis indicates that in AT~2018hyz, disk formation took place promptly after the most-bound debris returned to pericenter, which we estimate to be roughly tens of days before the first detection. Redistribution of angular momentum and mass transport, possibly through shocks, must occur on the observed timescale of about a month to create the large Ha-emitting disk that comprises $lesssim$5% of the initial stellar mass. With these new insights from AT~2018hyz, we infer that circularization is efficient in at least some, if not all optically-bright, X-ray faint TDEs. In these efficiently circularized TDEs, the detection of double-peaked emission depends on the disk inclination angle and the relative strength of the disk contribution to the non-disk component, possibly explaining the diversity seen in the current sample.
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We present results from spectroscopic observations of AT 2018hyz, a transient discovered by the ASAS-SN survey at an absolute magnitude of $M_Vsim -20.2$ mag, in the nucleus of a quiescent galaxy with strong Balmer absorption lines. AT 2018hyz shows a blue spectral continuum and broad emission lines, consistent with previous TDE candidates. High cadence follow-up spectra show broad Balmer lines and He I in early spectra, with He II making an appearance after $sim70-100$ days. The Balmer lines evolve from a smooth broad profile, through a boxy, asymmetric double-peaked phase consistent with accretion disc emission, and back to smooth at late times. The Balmer lines are unlike typical AGN in that they show a flat Balmer decrement (H$alpha$/H$betasim1.5$), suggesting the lines are collisionally excited rather than being produced via photo-ionisation. The flat Balmer decrement together with the complex profiles suggest that the emission lines originate in a disc chromosphere, analogous to those seen in cataclysmic variables. The low optical depth of material due to a possible partial disruption may be what allows us to observe these double-peaked, collisionally excited lines. The late appearance of He II may be due to an expanding photosphere or outflow, or late-time shocks in debris collisions.
We present the discovery of PS18kh, a tidal disruption event (TDE) discovered at the center of SDSS J075654.53+341543.6 ($dsimeq322$ Mpc) by the Pan-STARRS Survey for Transients. Our dataset includes pre-discovery survey data from Pan-STARRS, the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN), and the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) as well as high-cadence, multi-wavelength follow-up data from ground-based telescopes and Swift, spanning from 56 days before peak light until 75 days after. The optical/UV emission from PS18kh is well-fit as a blackbody with temperatures ranging from $Tsimeq12000$ K to $Tsimeq25000$ K and it peaked at a luminosity of $Lsimeq8.8times10^{43}$ ergs s$^{-1}$. PS18kh radiated $E=(3.45pm0.22)times10^{50}$ ergs over the period of observation, with $(1.42pm0.20)times10^{50}$ ergs being released during the rise to peak. Spectra of PS18kh show a changing, boxy/double-peaked H$alpha$ emission feature, which becomes more prominent over time. We use models of non-axisymmetric accretion disks to describe the profile of the H$alpha$ line and its evolution. We find that at early times the high accretion rate leads the disk to emit a wind which modifies the shape of the line profile and makes it bell-shaped. At late times, the wind becomes optically thin, allowing the non-axisymmetric perturbations to show up in the line profile. The line-emitting portion of the disk extends from $r_{rm in}sim60r_{rm g}$ to an outer radius of $r_{rm out}sim1400r_{rm g}$ and the perturbations can be represented either as an eccentricity in the outer rings of the disk or as a spiral arm in the inner disk.
We present ground-based and textit{Swift} observations of iPTF16fnl, a likely tidal disruption event (TDE) discovered by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) survey at 66.6 Mpc. The lightcurve of the object peaked at absolute $M_g=-17.2$ mag. The maximum bolometric luminosity (from optical and UV) was $L_p~simeq~(1.0,pm,0.15) times 10^{43}$ erg/s, an order of magnitude fainter than any other optical TDE discovered so far. The luminosity in the first 60 days is consistent with an exponential decay, with $L propto e^{-(t-t_0)/tau}$, where $t_0$=~57631.0 (MJD) and $tausimeq 15$ days. The X-ray shows a marginal detection at $L_X=2.4^{1.9}_{-1.1}times 10^{39}$ erg/s (textit{Swift} X-ray Telescope). No radio counterpart was detected down to 3$sigma$, providing upper limits for monochromatic radio luminosity of $ u L_{ u} < 2.3times10^{36}$ erg/s and $ u L_{ u}<1.7times 10^{37}$ erg/s (VLA, 6.1 and 22 GHz). The blackbody temperature, obtained from combined textit{Swift} UV and optical photometry, shows a constant value of 19,000 K. The transient spectrum at peak is characterized by broad He II and H$alpha$ emission lines, with an FWHM of about 14,000 km/s and 10,000 km/s respectively. He I lines are also detected at $lambdalambda$ 5875 and 6678. The spectrum of the host is dominated by strong Balmer absorption lines, which are consistent with a post-starburst (E+A) galaxy with an age of $sim$650 Myr and solar metallicity. The characteristics of iPTF16fnl make it an outlier on both luminosity and decay timescales, as compared to other optically selected TDEs. The discovery of such a faint optical event suggests a higher rate of tidal disruptions, as low luminosity events may have gone unnoticed in previous searches.
We report on the discovery of an ultrasoft X-ray transient source, 3XMM J152130.7+074916. It was serendipitously detected in an XMM-Newton observation on 2000 August 23, and its location is consistent with the center of the galaxy SDSS J152130.72+074916.5 (z=0.17901 and d_L=866 Mpc). The high-quality X-ray spectrum can be fitted with a thermal disk with an apparent inner disk temperature of 0.17 keV and a rest-frame 0.24-11.8 keV unabsorbed luminosity of ~5e43 erg/s, subject to a fast-moving warm absorber. Short-term variability was also clearly observed, with the spectrum being softer at lower flux. The source was covered but not detected in a Chandra observation on 2000 April 3, a Swift observation on 2005 September 10, and a second XMM-Newton observation on 2014 January 19, implying a large variability (>260) of the X-ray flux. The optical spectrum of the candidate host galaxy, taken ~11 yrs after the XMM-Newton detection, shows no sign of nuclear activity. This, combined with its transient and ultrasoft properties, leads us to explain the source as tidal disruption of a star by the supermassive black hole in the galactic center. We attribute the fast-moving warm absorber detected in the first XMM-Newton observation to the super-Eddington outflow associated with the event and the short-term variability to a disk instability that caused fast change of the inner disk radius at a constant mass accretion rate.
Following a tidal disruption event (TDE), the accretion rate can evolve from quiescent to near-Eddington levels and back over months - years timescales. This provides a unique opportunity to study the formation and evolution of the accretion flow around supermassive black holes (SMBHs). We present two years of multi-wavelength monitoring observations of the TDE AT2018fyk at X-ray, UV, optical and radio wavelengths. We identify three distinct accretion states and two state transitions between them. These appear remarkably similar to the behaviour of stellar-mass black holes in outburst. The X-ray spectral properties show a transition from a soft (thermal-dominated) to a hard (power-law dominated) spectral state around L$_{rm bol} sim $few $ times 10^{-2}$ L$_{rm Edd}$, and the strengthening of the corona over time $sim$100--200 days after the UV/optical peak. Contemporaneously, the spectral energy distribution (in particular, the UV-to-X-ray spectral slope $alpha_{ox}$) shows a pronounced softening as the outburst progresses. The X-ray timing properties also show a marked change, initially dominated by variability at long ($>$day) timescales while a high frequency ($sim$10$^{-3}$ Hz) component emerges after the transition into the hard state. At late times ($sim$500 days after peak), a second accretion state transition occurs, from the hard into the quiescent state, as identified by the sudden collapse of the bolometric (X-ray+UV) emission to levels below 10$^{-3.4}$ L$_{rm Edd}$. Our findings illustrate that TDEs can be used to study the scale (in)variance of accretion processes in individual SMBHs. Consequently, they provide a new avenue to study accretion states over seven orders of magnitude in black hole mass, removing limitations inherent to commonly used ensemble studies.
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