Frame-dragging, disk warping, jet precessing, and dipped X-ray lightcurve of Sw J1644+57

TL;DR

This paper models the warped accretion disk and jet precession in the TDE candidate Sw J1644+57 to explain its X-ray variability, inferring geometric parameters and jet properties from observations.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical warped disk and jet precession model that reproduces observed X-ray dips and constrains the system's geometric and jet parameters.

Findings

Narrow dips in X-ray lightcurve explained by jet precession.

Inclination angle of stellar orbit estimated between 10°-20°.

Jet Lorentz factor inferred to be moderately high.

Abstract

The X-ray transient source Sw J1644+57 recently discovered by Swift is believed to be triggered by tidal disruption of a star by a rapidly spinning supermassive black hole (SMBH). For such events, the outer disk is very likely misaligned with respect to the equatorial plane of the spinning SMBH, since the incoming star before disruption most likely has an inclined orbital plane. The tilted disk is subject to the Lense-Thirring torque, which tends to twist and warp due to the Bardeen-Petterson effect. The inner disk tends to align with the SMBH spin, while the outer region tends to remain in the stellar orbital plane, with a transition zone around the Bardeen-Petterson radius. The relativistic jet launched from the spinning SMBH would undergo precession. The 5-30 day X-ray lightcurve of Sw J1644+57 shows a quasi-periodic (2.7-day) variation with noticeable narrow dips. We numerically solve a warped disk and propose a jet-precessing model by invoking a Blandford-Znajek jet collimated by a wind launched near the Bardeen-Petterson radius. Through simulations, we show that the narrow dips in the X-ray lightcurve can be reproduced for a range of geometric configurations. From data we infer that the inclination angle of the initial stellar orbit is in the range of $10^{\circ}-20^{\circ}$ from the SMBH equatorial plane, that the jet should have a moderately high Lorentz factor, and that the inclination angle, jet opening angle, and observer's viewing angle are such that the duty cycle of the line-of-sight sweeping the jet cone is somewhat less than 0.5.