The most energetic transients: Tidal disruptions of high-mass stars.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 40465727.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.adt0074 and PMC identifier 13109975.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
We present the class of extreme nuclear transients (ENTs), including the most energetic single transient yet found, Gaia18cdj. Each ENT is coincident with its host-galaxy nucleus and exhibits a smooth (<10% excess variability), luminous (2 × 10<sup>45</sup> to 7 × 10<sup>45</sup> erg per second), and long-lived (>150 days) flare. ENTs are extremely rare (≥1 × 10<sup>-3</sup> cubic gigaparsec per year) compared to any other known class of transients. They are at least twice as energetic (0.5 × 10<sup>53</sup> to 2.5 × 10<sup>53</sup> erg) as any other known transient, ruling out supernova origins. Instead, the high peak luminosities, long flare timescales, and immense radiated energies of the ENTs are most consistent with the tidal disruption of high-mass ( [Formula: see text] ) stars by massive ( [Formula: see text] ) supermassive black holes (SMBHs). ENTs will be visible to high redshifts (<i>z</i> ~ 4 to 6) in upcoming surveys, providing an avenue to study the high-mass end of the SMBH mass distribution, complementing recent studies of actively accreting SMBHs at high redshifts with the James Webb Space Telescope.