An 85-s X-ray quasi-periodicity after a stellar tidal disruption by a candidate intermediate-mass black hole

被引：0
作者：
Zhang, Wenjie [1 ,2 ]
Shu, Xinwen [1 ]
Sun, Luming [1 ]
Shen, Rong-Feng [3 ]
Dou, Liming [4 ]
Jiang, Ning [5 ]
Wang, Tinggui [5 ]
机构：
[1] Anhui Normal Univ, Dept Phys, Wuhu, Peoples R China
[2] Chinese Acad Sci, Natl Astron Observ, Beijing, Peoples R China
[3] Sun Yat Sen Univ, Sch Phys & Astron, Zhuhai, Peoples R China
[4] Guangzhou Univ, Dept Astron, Guangzhou, Peoples R China
[5] Univ Sci & Technol China, Dept Astron, CAS Key Lab Res Galaxies & Cosmol, Hefei, Peoples R China
来源：
NATURE ASTRONOMY | 2025年
基金：
中国国家自然科学基金;
关键词：
OSCILLATIONS; STAR; EVOLUTION; EMISSION; NUCLEUS; GALAXY;
D O I：
10.1038/s41550-025-02502-0
中图分类号：
P1 [天文学];
学科分类号：
0704 ;
摘要：
It is still in dispute whether intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) with a mass of similar to 10(3)-10(5) solar masses (M-circle dot) exist, which are the missing link between stellar-mass black holes (5-50 M-circle dot) and supermassive black holes (10(6)-10(10) M-circle dot). The bright flares from tidal disruption events (TDEs) provide a new and direct way to probe IMBHs. 3XMM J215022.4-055108 is a unique off-nuclear X-ray transient that can be best explained as the TDE by an IMBH in a massive star cluster, although its mass is not well determined. Here we report the discovery of a transient X-ray quasi-periodicity signal from 3XMM J215022.4-055108 with a period of similar to 85 s (at a significance of >3.51 sigma) and fractional root-mean-squared amplitude of similar to 10%. Furthermore, the signal is coherent with a quality factor of similar to 16. The significance drops to >3.13 sigma if considering all light curves with sufficient quality for quasi-periodic oscillation search. Combined with the results from X-ray continuum fittings, the detection of quasi-periodic oscillation allows joint constraints on the black hole mass and dimensionless spin in the range of 9.9 x 10(3) to 1.6 x 10(4) M-circle dot and 0.26 to 0.36, respectively. This result supports the presence of an IMBH in an off-nuclear massive star cluster and may allow the study of IMBHs through X-ray timing of TDEs.
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收藏
页码：702 / 709
页数：18
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