The rebrightening of a ROSAT-selected tidal disruption event: repeated weak partial disruption flares from a quiescent galaxy?
The ROSAT-selected tidal disruption event (TDE) candidate RX J133157.6−324319.7 (J1331) was detected in 1993 as a bright [0.2–2 keV flux of (1.0 ± 0.1) × 10−12 erg s−1 cm−2], ultra-soft (kT = 0.11 ± 0.03 keV) X-ray flare from a quiescent galaxy (z = 0.051 89). During its fifth all-sky survey (eRASS5...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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2023
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| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP200102471 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/94752 |
| _version_ | 1848765913767084032 |
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| author | Malyali, A. Liu, Z. Rau, A. Grotova, I. Merloni, A. Goodwin, Adelle Anderson, Gemma Miller-Jones, James Kawka, A. Arcodia, R. Buchner, J. Nandra, K. Homan, D. Krumpe, M. |
| author_facet | Malyali, A. Liu, Z. Rau, A. Grotova, I. Merloni, A. Goodwin, Adelle Anderson, Gemma Miller-Jones, James Kawka, A. Arcodia, R. Buchner, J. Nandra, K. Homan, D. Krumpe, M. |
| author_sort | Malyali, A. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The ROSAT-selected tidal disruption event (TDE) candidate RX J133157.6−324319.7 (J1331) was detected in 1993 as a bright [0.2–2 keV flux of (1.0 ± 0.1) × 10−12 erg s−1 cm−2], ultra-soft (kT = 0.11 ± 0.03 keV) X-ray flare from a quiescent galaxy (z = 0.051 89). During its fifth all-sky survey (eRASS5) in 2022, Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG)/ eROSITA detected the repeated flaring of J1331, where it had rebrightened to an observed 0.2–2 keV flux of (6.0 ± 0.7) × 10−13 erg s−1 cm−2, with spectral properties (kT = 0.115 ± 0.007 keV) consistent with the ROSAT-observed flare ∼30 yr earlier. In this work, we report on X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, and radio observations of this system. During a pointed XMM observation ∼17 d after the eRASS5 detection, J1331 was not detected in the 0.2–2 keV band, constraining the 0.2–2 keV flux to have decayed by a factor of ≳40 over this period. Given the extremely low probability (∼5 × 10−6) of observing two independent full TDEs from the same galaxy over a 30 yr period, we consider the variability seen in J1331 to be likely caused by two partial TDEs involving a star on an elliptical orbit around a black hole. J1331-like flares show faster rise and decay time-scales [O(d)] compared to standard TDE candidates, with negligible ongoing accretion at late times post-disruption between outbursts. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:42:48Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-94752 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:42:48Z |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-947522024-04-17T07:35:15Z The rebrightening of a ROSAT-selected tidal disruption event: repeated weak partial disruption flares from a quiescent galaxy? Malyali, A. Liu, Z. Rau, A. Grotova, I. Merloni, A. Goodwin, Adelle Anderson, Gemma Miller-Jones, James Kawka, A. Arcodia, R. Buchner, J. Nandra, K. Homan, D. Krumpe, M. The ROSAT-selected tidal disruption event (TDE) candidate RX J133157.6−324319.7 (J1331) was detected in 1993 as a bright [0.2–2 keV flux of (1.0 ± 0.1) × 10−12 erg s−1 cm−2], ultra-soft (kT = 0.11 ± 0.03 keV) X-ray flare from a quiescent galaxy (z = 0.051 89). During its fifth all-sky survey (eRASS5) in 2022, Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG)/ eROSITA detected the repeated flaring of J1331, where it had rebrightened to an observed 0.2–2 keV flux of (6.0 ± 0.7) × 10−13 erg s−1 cm−2, with spectral properties (kT = 0.115 ± 0.007 keV) consistent with the ROSAT-observed flare ∼30 yr earlier. In this work, we report on X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, and radio observations of this system. During a pointed XMM observation ∼17 d after the eRASS5 detection, J1331 was not detected in the 0.2–2 keV band, constraining the 0.2–2 keV flux to have decayed by a factor of ≳40 over this period. Given the extremely low probability (∼5 × 10−6) of observing two independent full TDEs from the same galaxy over a 30 yr period, we consider the variability seen in J1331 to be likely caused by two partial TDEs involving a star on an elliptical orbit around a black hole. J1331-like flares show faster rise and decay time-scales [O(d)] compared to standard TDE candidates, with negligible ongoing accretion at late times post-disruption between outbursts. 2023 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/94752 10.1093/mnras/stad022 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP200102471 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Malyali, A. Liu, Z. Rau, A. Grotova, I. Merloni, A. Goodwin, Adelle Anderson, Gemma Miller-Jones, James Kawka, A. Arcodia, R. Buchner, J. Nandra, K. Homan, D. Krumpe, M. The rebrightening of a ROSAT-selected tidal disruption event: repeated weak partial disruption flares from a quiescent galaxy? |
| title | The rebrightening of a ROSAT-selected tidal disruption event: repeated weak partial disruption flares from a quiescent galaxy? |
| title_full | The rebrightening of a ROSAT-selected tidal disruption event: repeated weak partial disruption flares from a quiescent galaxy? |
| title_fullStr | The rebrightening of a ROSAT-selected tidal disruption event: repeated weak partial disruption flares from a quiescent galaxy? |
| title_full_unstemmed | The rebrightening of a ROSAT-selected tidal disruption event: repeated weak partial disruption flares from a quiescent galaxy? |
| title_short | The rebrightening of a ROSAT-selected tidal disruption event: repeated weak partial disruption flares from a quiescent galaxy? |
| title_sort | rebrightening of a rosat-selected tidal disruption event: repeated weak partial disruption flares from a quiescent galaxy? |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP200102471 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/94752 |