A luminous X-ray transient in SDSS J143359.16+400636.0: a likely tidal disruption event

TL;DR

A luminous X-ray transient in a galaxy was likely a tidal disruption event, characterized by a high peak luminosity, a decline consistent with t^{-5/3}, and spectral properties distinct from typical AGN, highlighting the importance of UV/X-ray surveys.

Contribution

This study reports the discovery and detailed analysis of a likely TDE detected solely through X-ray and UV observations, emphasizing the need for wide-field UV/X-ray surveys to identify such events.

Findings

Peak X-ray luminosity of ~10^{44} erg/s

Decline in flux follows t^{-5/3} pattern

Black hole mass estimated at ~2.6 million solar masses

Abstract

We present the discovery of a luminous X-ray transient, serendipitously detected by Swift's X-ray Telescope (XRT) on 2020 February 5, located in the nucleus of the galaxy SDSS J143359.16+400636.0 at z=0.099 (luminosity distance $D_{\rm L}=456$ Mpc). The transient was observed to reach a peak luminosity of $\sim10^{44}$ erg s$^{-1}$ in the 0.3--10 keV X-ray band, which was $\sim20$ times more than the peak optical/UV luminosity. Optical, UV, and X-ray lightcurves from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and Swift show a decline in flux from the source consistent with $t^{-5/3}$, and observations with NuSTAR and Chandra show a soft X-ray spectrum with photon index $\Gamma=2.9\pm0.1$. The X-ray/UV properties are inconsistent with well known AGN properties and have more in common with known X-ray tidal disruption events (TDE), leading us to conclude that it was likely a TDE. The broadband spectral energy distribution (SED) can be described well by a disk blackbody model with an inner disk temperature of $7.3^{+0.3}_{-0.8}\times10^{5}$ K, with a large fraction ($>40$%) of the disk emission up-scattered into the X-ray band. An optical spectrum taken with Keck/LRIS after the X-ray detection reveals LINER line ratios in the host galaxy, suggesting low-level accretion on to the supermassive black hole prior to the event, but no broad lines or other indications of a TDE were seen. The stellar velocity dispersion implies the mass of the supermassive black hole powering the event is log($M_{\rm BH}$/$M_{\odot}$)$=7.41\pm0.41$, and we estimate that at peak the Eddington fraction of this event was $\sim$50%. This likely TDE was not identified by wide-field optical surveys, nor optical spectroscopy, indicating that more events like this would be missed without wide-field UV or X-ray surveys.