A very luminous jet from the disruption of a star by a massive black hole
Journal
Date Issued
2022
Author(s)
Andreoni, Igor
•
Coughlin, Michael W.
•
Perley, Daniel A.
•
Yao, Yuhan
•
Lu, Wenbin
•
Cenko, S. Bradley
•
Kumar, Harsh
•
Anand, Shreya
•
Ho, Anna Y. Q.
•
Kasliwal, Mansi M.
•
de Ugarte Postigo, Antonio
•
Sagués-Carracedo, Ana
•
Schulze, Steve
•
Kann, D. Alexander
•
Kulkarni, S. R.
•
Sollerman, Jesper
•
Tanvir, Nial
•
Rest, Armin
•
•
Somalwar, Jean J.
•
Kaplan, David L.
•
Ahumada, Tomás
•
Anupama, G. C.
•
Auchettl, Katie
•
Barway, Sudhanshu
•
Bellm, Eric C.
•
Bhalerao, Varun
•
Bloom, Joshua S.
•
Bremer, Michael
•
Bulla, Mattia
•
Burns, Eric
•
•
Chandra, Poonam
•
Charalampopoulos, Panos
•
Cooke, Jeff
•
D'ELIA, Valerio
•
Das, Kaustav Kashyap
•
Dobie, Dougal
•
Agüí Fernández, José Feliciano
•
Freeburn, James
•
Fremling, Cristoffer
•
Gezari, Suvi
•
Goode, Simon
•
Graham, Matthew J.
•
Hammerstein, Erica
•
Karambelkar, Viraj R.
•
Kilpatrick, Charles D.
•
Kool, Erik C.
•
Krips, Melanie
•
Laher, Russ R.
•
Leloudas, Giorgos
•
Levan, Andrew
•
Lundquist, Michael J.
•
Mahabal, Ashish A.
•
Medford, Michael S.
•
Miller, M. Coleman
•
Möller, Anais
•
Mooley, Kunal P.
•
Nayana, A. J.
•
Nir, Guy
•
Pang, Peter T. H.
•
Paraskeva, Emmy
•
Perley, Richard A.
•
Petitpas, Glen
•
Pursiainen, Miika
•
Ravi, Vikram
•
Ridden-Harper, Ryan
•
Riddle, Reed
•
Rigault, Mickael
•
Rodriguez, Antonio C.
•
Rusholme, Ben
•
Sharma, Yashvi
•
Smith, I. A.
•
Stein, Robert D.
•
Thöne, Christina
•
Tohuvavohu, Aaron
•
Valdes, Frank
•
van Roestel, Jan
•
Vergani, Susanna D.
•
Wang, Qinan
•
Zhang, Jielai
Abstract
Tidal disruption events (TDEs) are bursts of electromagnetic energy that are released when supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies violently disrupt a star that passes too close1. TDEs provide a window through which to study accretion onto supermassive black holes; in some rare cases, this accretion leads to launching of a relativistic jet2-9, but the necessary conditions are not fully understood. The best-studied jetted TDE so far is Swift J1644+57, which was discovered in γ-rays, but was too obscured by dust to be seen at optical wavelengths. Here we report the optical detection of AT2022cmc, a rapidly fading source at cosmological distance (redshift z = 1.19325) the unique light curve of which transitioned into a luminous plateau within days. Observations of a bright counterpart at other wavelengths, including X-ray, submillimetre and radio, supports the interpretation of AT2022cmc as a jetted TDE containing a synchrotron `afterglow', probably launched by a supermassive black hole with spin greater than approximately 0.3. Using four years of Zwicky Transient Facility10 survey data, we calculate a rate of 0.0 2−0.01+0.04 Gpc−3 yr−1 for on-axis jetted TDEs on the basis of the luminous, fast-fading red component, thus providing a measurement complementary to the rates derived from X-ray and radio observations11. Correcting for the beaming angle effects, this rate confirms that approximately 1 per cent of TDEs have relativistic jets. Optical surveys can use AT2022cmc as a prototype to unveil a population of jetted TDEs.
Volume
612
Issue
7940
Start page
430
Issn Identifier
0028-0836
Ads BibCode
2022Natur.612..430A
Rights
open.access
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