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A MULTIWAVELENGTH STUDY OF THE RELATIVISTIC TIDAL DISRUPTION CANDIDATE SWIFT J2058.4+0516 AT LATE TIMES.

Authors :
Dheeraj R. Pasham
S. Bradley Cenko
Andrew J. Levan
Geoffrey C. Bower
Assaf Horesh
Gregory C. Brown
Stephen Dolan
Klaas Wiersema
Alexei V. Filippenko
Andrew S. Fruchter
Jochen Greiner
Paul T. O’Brien
Kim L. Page
Arne Rau
Nial R. Tanvir
Source :
Astrophysical Journal. 5/20/2015, Vol. 805 Issue 1, p1-1. 1p.
Publication Year :
2015

Abstract

We report a multiwavelength (X-ray, ultraviolet/optical/infrared (UVOIR), radio) analysis of the relativistic tidal disruption event (TDE) candidate Sw J2058+05 from 3 months to 3 yr post-discovery in order to study its properties and compare its behavior with that of Sw J1644+57. Our main results are as follows: (1) The long-term X-ray light curve of Sw J2058+05 shows a remarkably similar trend to that of Sw J1644+57. After a prolonged power-law decay, the X-ray flux drops off rapidly by a factor of ≳160 within a span of Δt/ . Associating this sudden decline with the transition from super-Eddington to sub-Eddington accretion, we estimate the black hole mass to be in the range of 104–6M. (2) We detect rapid (≲500 s) X-ray variability before the drop-off, suggesting that, even at late times, the X-rays originate from close to the black hole (ruling out a forward-shock origin). (3) We confirm using Hubble Space Telescope and Very Long Baseline Array astrometry that the location of the source coincides with the galaxy’s center to within ≲400 pc (in projection). (4) We modeled Sw J2058+05's UVOIR spectral energy distribution with a single-temperature blackbody and find that while the radius remains more or less constant at a value of 63.4 ± 4.5 AU ( cm) at all times during the outburst, the blackbody temperature drops significantly from ∼30,000 K at early times to a value of ∼15,000 K at late times (before the X-ray drop-off). Our results strengthen Sw J2058+05's interpretation as a TDE similar to Sw J1644+57. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
0004637X
Volume :
805
Issue :
1
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Astrophysical Journal
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
102787367
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/805/1/68