IGR J12580+0134: The First Tidal Disruption Event with an Off-beam Relativistic Jet

TL;DR

This paper presents the first evidence of an off-beam relativistic jet in a tidal disruption event, IGR J12580+0134, using multi-wavelength modeling and constraints from radio and X-ray observations.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed model of an off-beam relativistic jet in a TDE, expanding understanding of jet orientations and emission mechanisms in such events.

Findings

The event involves a $8-40$ Jupiter mass object disrupted by a SMBH.

Radio data fit an external forward shock model in the Newtonian regime.

X-ray emission likely originates from the disk or corona, not the jet.

Abstract

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) can capture and tidally disrupt stars or sub-stellar objects orbiting nearby. The detections of Sw J1644+57-like events suggest that at least some TDEs can launch a relativistic jet beaming towards Earth. A natural expectation would be the existence of TDEs with a relativistic jet beaming away from Earth. The nearby TDE candidate IGR J12580+0134 provides new insights into the jet phenomenon. Combining several constraints, we find that the event invokes a $8-40$ Jupiter mass object tidally disrupted by a $3 \times 10^5 - 1.8 \times 10^7 M_\sun$ SMBH. Recently, a bright radio transient was discovered by Irwin et al. in association with IGR J12580+0134. We perform detailed modeling of the event based on a numerical jet model previously developed for the radio emission of Sw J1644+57. We find that the radio data of IGR J12580+0134 can be interpreted within an external forward shock model in the Newtonian regime. Using Sw J1644+57 as a template and properly correcting for its luminosity, we argue that the observed X-ray flux in early times is too faint to allow an on-beam relativistic jet unless the Lorentz factor is very small. Rather, the X-ray emission is likely from the disk or corona near the black hole. From various constraints, we find that the data are consistent with an off-beam relativistic jet with a viewing angle $\theta_{\rm obs} \gtrsim 30^{\rm o}$, and an initial Lorentz factor $\Gamma_j \gtrsim $ a few.This scenario can readily be tested in the upcoming VLBI observations.