Kavli Affiliate: Ronald Remillard
| First 5 Authors: Muryel Guolo, Dheeraj R. Pasham, Michal Zajaček, Eric R. Coughlin, Suvi Gezari
| Summary:
Galactic nuclei showing recurrent phases of activity and quiescence have
recently been discovered, with recurrence times as short as a few hours to a
day — known as quasi-periodic X-ray eruption (QPE) sources — to as long as
hundreds to a thousand days for repeating nuclear transients (RNTs). Here we
report the discovery of Swift J023017.0+283603 (hereafter Swift J0230+28), a
source that exhibits X-ray quasi-periodic eruptions from the nucleus of a
previously unremarkable galaxy at $sim$ 165 Mpc, with a recurrence time of
approximately 22 days, an intermediary timescale between known RNTs and QPE
sources. We also report transient radio emission from the source, which is
likely associated with the X-ray eruptions. Such recurrent soft X-ray eruptions
from a low-mass black hole, with no accompanying UV/optical emission are
strikingly similar to QPE sources. However, in addition to having a recurrence
time that is $sim 25$ times longer than the longest-known QPE source, Swift
J0230+28’s eruptions exhibit slightly distinct shapes and temperature evolution
than the known QPE sources. The observed properties disfavor disk instability
models, and instead favor scenarios involving extreme mass ratio inspirals. Our
discovery reveals a new timescale for repeating extragalactic transients and
highlights the need for a wide-field, time-domain X-ray mission, which would
enable the exploration of the parameter space of recurring X-ray transients.
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