The Birth of a Relativistic Jet Following the Disruption of a Star by a Cosmological Black Hole

The Birth of a Relativistic Jet Following the Disruption of a Star by a Cosmological Black Hole

A black hole can launch a powerful relativistic jet after it tidally disrupts a star. If this jet fortuitously aligns with our line of sight, the overall brightness is Doppler boosted by several orders of magnitude. Consequently, such on-axis relativistic tidal disruption events have the potential t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Pasham, D.R., Lucchini, M., Laskar, T., Gompertz, B.P., Srivastav, S., Nicholl, M., Smartt, S.J., Miller-Jones, James, Alexander, K.D., Fender, R., Smith, G.P., Fulton, M., Dewangan, G., Gendreau, K., Coughlin, E.R., Rhodes, L., Horesh, A., van Velzen, S., Sfaradi, I., Guolo, M., Castro Segura, N., Aamer, A., Anderson, J.P., Arcavi, I., Brennan, S.J., Chambers, K., Charalampopoulos, P., Chen, T.W., Clocchiatti, A., de Boer, T., Dennefeld, M., Ferrara, E., Galbany, L., Gao, H., Gillanders, J.H., Goodwin, Adelle, Gromadzki, M., Huber, M., Jonker, P.G., Joshi, M., Kara, E., Killestein, T.L., Kosec, P., Kocevski, D., Leloudas, G., Lin, C.C., Margutti, R., Mattila, S., Moore, T., Müller-Bravo, T., Ngeow, C.C., Oates, S., Onori, F., Pan, Y.C., Perez-Torres, M., Rani, P., Remillard, R., Ridley, E.J., Schulze, S., Sheng, X., Shingles, L., Smith, K.W., Steiner, J.F., Wainscoat, R., Wevers, T., Yang, S.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: NATURE PORTFOLIO 2023
Subjects:
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Astronomy & Astrophysics
GAMMA-RAY BURSTS
TIDAL DISRUPTION
GALAXY CLUSTERS
LIGHT CURVES
VARIABILITY
CANDIDATE
EVENTS
PARSEC
SYSTEM
NEARBY
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP200102471
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96437
Description
Summary:A black hole can launch a powerful relativistic jet after it tidally disrupts a star. If this jet fortuitously aligns with our line of sight, the overall brightness is Doppler boosted by several orders of magnitude. Consequently, such on-axis relativistic tidal disruption events have the potential to unveil cosmological (redshift z > 1) quiescent black holes and are ideal test beds for understanding the radiative mechanisms operating in super-Eddington jets. Here we present multiwavelength (X-ray, UV, optical and radio) observations of the optically discovered transient AT 2022cmc at z = 1.193. Its unusual X-ray properties, including a peak observed luminosity of ≳1048 erg s−1, systematic variability on timescales as short as 1,000 s and overall duration lasting more than 30 days in the rest frame, are traits associated with relativistic tidal disruption events. The X-ray to radio spectral energy distributions spanning 5–50 days after discovery can be explained as synchrotron emission from a relativistic jet (radio), synchrotron self-Compton (X-rays) and thermal emission similar to that seen in low-redshift tidal disruption events (UV/optical). Our modelling implies a beamed, highly relativistic jet akin to blazars but requires extreme matter domination (that is, a high ratio of electron-to-magnetic-field energy densities in the jet) and challenges our theoretical understanding of jets.

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