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The Birth of a Relativistic Jet Following the Disruption of a Star by a Cosmological Black Hole

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Open access
Authors
Pasham, D.R.
Lucchini, M.
Laskar, T.
Gompertz, B.P.
Srivastav, S.
Nicholl, M.
Smartt, S.J.
Miller-Jones, James
Alexander, K.D.
Fender, R.
Smith, G.P.
Fulton, M.
Dewangan, G.
Gendreau, K.
Coughlin, E.R.
Rhodes, L.
Horesh, A.
van Velzen, S.
Sfaradi, I.
Guolo, M.
Castro Segura, N.
Aamer, A.
Anderson, J.P.
Arcavi, I.
Brennan, S.J.
Chambers, K.
Charalampopoulos, P.
Chen, T.W.
Clocchiatti, A.
de Boer, T.
Dennefeld, M.
Ferrara, E.
Galbany, L.
Gao, H.
Gillanders, J.H.
Goodwin, Adelle
Gromadzki, M.
Huber, M.
Jonker, P.G.
Joshi, M.
Kara, E.
Killestein, T.L.
Kosec, P.
Kocevski, D.
Leloudas, G.
Lin, C.C.
Margutti, R.
Mattila, S.
Moore, T.
Müller-Bravo, T.
Ngeow, C.C.
Oates, S.
Onori, F.
Pan, Y.C.
Perez-Torres, M.
Rani, P.
Remillard, R.
Ridley, E.J.
Schulze, S.
Sheng, X.
Shingles, L.
Smith, K.W.
Steiner, J.F.
Wainscoat, R.
Wevers, T.
Yang, S.
Date
2023
Type
Journal Article

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Citation
Pasham, D.R. and Lucchini, M. and Laskar, T. and Gompertz, B.P. and Srivastav, S. and Nicholl, M. and Smartt, S.J. et al. 2023. The Birth of a Relativistic Jet Following the Disruption of a Star by a Cosmological Black Hole. Nature Astronomy. 7 (1): pp. 88-104.
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Nature Astronomy
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Faculty
Faculty of Science and Engineering
School
School of Elec Eng, Comp and Math Sci (EECMS)
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Remarks

This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01820-x

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Abstract

A black hole can launch a powerful relativistic jet after it tidally disrupts a star. If this jet fortuitously aligns with our line of sight, the overall brightness is Doppler boosted by several orders of magnitude. Consequently, such on-axis relativistic tidal disruption events have the potential to unveil cosmological (redshift z > 1) quiescent black holes and are ideal test beds for understanding the radiative mechanisms operating in super-Eddington jets. Here we present multiwavelength (X-ray, UV, optical and radio) observations of the optically discovered transient AT 2022cmc at z = 1.193. Its unusual X-ray properties, including a peak observed luminosity of ≳1048 erg s−1, systematic variability on timescales as short as 1,000 s and overall duration lasting more than 30 days in the rest frame, are traits associated with relativistic tidal disruption events. The X-ray to radio spectral energy distributions spanning 5–50 days after discovery can be explained as synchrotron emission from a relativistic jet (radio), synchrotron self-Compton (X-rays) and thermal emission similar to that seen in low-redshift tidal disruption events (UV/optical). Our modelling implies a beamed, highly relativistic jet akin to blazars but requires extreme matter domination (that is, a high ratio of electron-to-magnetic-field energy densities in the jet) and challenges our theoretical understanding of jets.