Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - A fast-rising tidal disruption event from a candidate intermediate-mass black hole
AU - Angus, Charlotte
AU - Baldassare, Vivienne
AU - Mockler, B.
AU - Foley, R. J.
AU - Ramirez-Ruiz, E.
AU - Raimundo, Sandra
AU - French, K. D.
AU - Auchettl, K.
AU - Pfister, H.
AU - Gall, Christa
AU - Hjorth, J.
AU - Drout, Maria
AU - Alexander, Kate
AU - Dimitriadis, Georgios
AU - Hung, T.
AU - Jones, D. O.
AU - Rest, Armin
AU - Siebert, M. R.
AU - Taggart, Kirsty
AU - Terreran, G.
AU - Tinyanont, Samaporn
AU - Carroll, Christopher M.
AU - DeMarchi, L.
AU - Earl, N.
AU - Gagliano, A.
AU - Izzo, L.
AU - Villar, V. A.
AU - Zenati, Y.
AU - Arendse, N.
AU - Cold, C.
AU - de Boer, T. J. L.
AU - Chambers, K. C.
AU - Coulter, D. A.
AU - Khetan, N.
AU - Lin, C. C.
AU - Magnier, E. A.
AU - Rojas-Bravo, Cesar
AU - Wainscoat, Richard
AU - Wojtak, R.
PY - 2022/12/1
Y1 - 2022/12/1
N2 - Massive black holes (BHs) at the centres of massive galaxies are ubiquitous. The population of BHs within dwarf galaxies, on the other hand, is not yet known. Dwarf galaxies are thought to harbour BHs with proportionally small masses, including intermediate-mass BHs, with masses 10 2 < M BH < 10 6 solar masses (M ⊙). Identification of these systems has historically relied on the detection of light emitted from accreting gaseous disks close to the BHs. Without this light, they are difficult to detect. Tidal disruption events, the luminous flares produced when a star strays close to a BH and is shredded, are a direct way to probe massive BHs. The rise times of these flares theoretically correlate with the BH mass. Here we present AT 2020neh, a fast-rising tidal disruption event candidate, hosted by a dwarf galaxy. AT 2020neh can be described by the tidal disruption of a main sequence star by a 10 4.7–10 5.9 M ⊙ BH. We find the observable rate of fast-rising nuclear transients like AT 2020neh to be low, at ≲2 × 10 −8 events Mpc −3 yr −1. Finding non-accreting BHs in dwarf galaxies is important to determine how prevalent BHs are within these galaxies, and to constrain models of BH formation. AT 2020neh-like events may provide a galaxy-independent method of measuring the masses of intermediate-mass BHs.
AB - Massive black holes (BHs) at the centres of massive galaxies are ubiquitous. The population of BHs within dwarf galaxies, on the other hand, is not yet known. Dwarf galaxies are thought to harbour BHs with proportionally small masses, including intermediate-mass BHs, with masses 10 2 < M BH < 10 6 solar masses (M ⊙). Identification of these systems has historically relied on the detection of light emitted from accreting gaseous disks close to the BHs. Without this light, they are difficult to detect. Tidal disruption events, the luminous flares produced when a star strays close to a BH and is shredded, are a direct way to probe massive BHs. The rise times of these flares theoretically correlate with the BH mass. Here we present AT 2020neh, a fast-rising tidal disruption event candidate, hosted by a dwarf galaxy. AT 2020neh can be described by the tidal disruption of a main sequence star by a 10 4.7–10 5.9 M ⊙ BH. We find the observable rate of fast-rising nuclear transients like AT 2020neh to be low, at ≲2 × 10 −8 events Mpc −3 yr −1. Finding non-accreting BHs in dwarf galaxies is important to determine how prevalent BHs are within these galaxies, and to constrain models of BH formation. AT 2020neh-like events may provide a galaxy-independent method of measuring the masses of intermediate-mass BHs.
U2 - 10.1038/s41550-022-01811-y
DO - 10.1038/s41550-022-01811-y
M3 - Journal article
VL - 6
SP - 1452
EP - 1463
JO - Nature Astronomy
JF - Nature Astronomy
SN - 2397-3366
IS - 12
ER -