Bibcode
Esquej, P.; Saxton, R. D.; Komossa, S.; Read, A. M.; Freyberg, M. J.; Hasinger, G.; García-Hernández, D. A.; Lu, H.; Rodriguez Zaurín, J.; Sánchez-Portal, M.; Zhou, H.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 489, Issue 2, 2008, pp.543-554
Advertised on:
10
2008
Journal
Citations
145
Refereed citations
133
Description
Context: It has been demonstrated that active galactic nuclei are
powered by gas accretion onto supermassive black holes located at their
centres. The paradigm that the nuclei of inactive galaxies are also
occupied by black holes was predicted long ago by theory. In the past
decade, this conjecture was confirmed by the discovery of
giant-amplitude, non-recurrent X-ray flares from such inactive galaxies
and explained in terms of outburst radiation from stars tidally
disrupted by a dormant supermassive black hole at the nuclei of those
galaxies. Aims: Due to the scarcity of detected tidal disruption
events, the confirmation and follow-up of each new candidate is needed
to strengthen the theory through observational data, as well as to shed
new light on the characteristics of this type of events. Methods: Two tidal disruption candidates have been detected with
XMM-Newton during slew observations. Optical and X-ray follow-up,
post-outburst observations were performed on these highly variable
objects in order to further study their classification and temporal
evolution. Results: We show that the detected low-state X-ray
emission for these two candidates has properties such that it must still
be related to the flare. The X-ray luminosity of the objects decreases
according to theoretical predictions for tidal disruption events. At
present, optical spectra of the sources do not present any evident
signature of the disruption event. In addition, the tidal disruption
rate as derived from the XMM-Newton slew survey has been computed and
agrees with previous studies.
Related projects
Nucleosynthesis and molecular processes in the late stages of Stellar Evolution
Low- to intermediate-mass (M < 8 solar masses, Ms) stars represent the majority of stars in the Cosmos. They finish their lives on the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) - just before they form planetary nebulae (PNe) - where they experience complex nucleosynthetic and molecular processes. AGB stars are important contributors to the enrichment of the
Domingo Aníbal
García Hernández