A luminous X-ray outburst from an intermediate-mass black hole in an off-centre star cluster

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dc.contributor.authorLin, Dacheng
dc.contributor.authorStrader, Jay
dc.contributor.authorCarrasco, Eleazar R.
dc.contributor.authorPage, Dany
dc.contributor.authorRomanowsky, Aaron J.
dc.contributor.authorHoman, Jeroen
dc.contributor.authorIrwin, Jimmy A.
dc.contributor.authorRemillard, Ronald A.
dc.contributor.authorGodet, Olivier
dc.contributor.authorWebb, Natalie A.
dc.contributor.authorBaumgardt, Holger
dc.contributor.authorWijnands, Rudy
dc.contributor.authorBarret, Didier
dc.contributor.authorDuc, Pierre-Alain
dc.contributor.authorBrodie, Jean P.
dc.contributor.authorGwyn, Stephen D. J.
dc.contributor.otherUniversity System Of New Hampshire
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of New Hampshire
dc.contributor.otherMichigan State University
dc.contributor.otherUniversidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
dc.contributor.otherCalifornia State University System
dc.contributor.otherSan Jose State University
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of California System
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of California Santa Cruz
dc.contributor.otherEureka Scientific
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Alabama Tuscaloosa
dc.contributor.otherMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
dc.contributor.otherUniversite de Toulouse
dc.contributor.otherUniversite Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier
dc.contributor.otherCentre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Queensland
dc.contributor.otherUniversity of Amsterdam
dc.contributor.otherCNRS - National Institute for Earth Sciences & Astronomy (INSU)
dc.contributor.otherUDICE-French Research Universities
dc.contributor.otherUniversites de Strasbourg Etablissements Associes
dc.contributor.otherUniversite de Strasbourg
dc.contributor.otherNational Research Council Canada
dc.date.accessioned2018-12-05T21:33:43Z
dc.date.available2018-12-05T21:33:43Z
dc.date.issued2018-06-14
dc.description.abstractA unique signature for the presence of massive black holes in very dense stellar regions is occasional giant-amplitude out-bursts of multi-wavelength radiation from tidal disruption and subsequent accretion of stars that make a close approach to the black holes(1). Previous strong tidal disruption event (TDE) candidates were all associated with the centres of largely isolated galaxies(2-6). Here, we report the discovery of a luminous X-ray outburst from a massive star cluster at a projected distance of 12.5 kpc from the centre of a large lenticular galaxy. The luminosity peaked at similar to 10(43) erg s(-1) and decayed systematically over 10 years, approximately following a trend that supports the identification of the event as a TDE. The X-ray spectra were all very soft, with emission confined to be less than or similar to 3.0 keV, and could be described with a standard thermal disk. The disk cooled significantly as the luminosity decreased-a key thermal-state signature often observed in accreting stellar-mass black holes. This thermal-state signature, coupled with very high luminosities, ultrasoft X-ray spectra and the characteristic power-law evolution of the light curve, provides strong evidence that the source contains an intermediate-mass black hole with a mass tens of thousand times that of the solar mass. This event demonstrates that one of the most effective means of detecting intermediate-mass black holes is through X-ray flares from TDEs in star clusters.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationLin, D. et al. (2018): A luminous X-ray outburst from an intermediate-mass black hole in an off-centre star cluster. Nature Astronomy, 2 (8). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-018-0493-1
dc.identifier.doi10.1038/s41550-018-0493-1
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7272-9234
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2498-4326
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0393-9190
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5683-5339
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4307-8521
dc.identifier.orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3516-2152
dc.identifier.urihttp://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/5152
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherNature Portfolio
dc.subjectPHOTON IMAGING CAMERA
dc.subjectTIDAL DISRUPTION
dc.subjectXMM-NEWTON
dc.subjectPOPULATION SYNTHESIS
dc.subjectNEUTRON-STAR
dc.subjectSOLAR MASSES
dc.subjectDWARF
dc.subjectPERFORMANCE
dc.subjectEMISSION
dc.subjectGALAXIES
dc.subjectAstronomy & Astrophysics
dc.titleA luminous X-ray outburst from an intermediate-mass black hole in an off-centre star clusteren_US
dc.typetext
dc.typeArticle

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