Multiwavelength Outburst Activity from EP J174942.2-384834: A Very Faint X-Ray Transient Discovered by Einstein Probe

Journal article

We report the discovery and multiwavelength characterization of the Galactic transient EPJ174942.2–384834, first detected by the Einstein Probe during a faint X-ray outburst in 2025 March. Coordinated follow-up observations revealed two major outbursts and a rebrightening over a 7 month period. Broadband X-ray spectral modeling shows that the outburst emission was dominated by thermal Comptonization of very soft seed photons. The absence of a detected thermal disk component, together with the low inferred seed-photon temperature, is consistent with a cool and possibly truncated accretion disk. The X-ray spectrum remained consistently hard throughout the outburst activity, with a power-law photon index of Γ ≈ 1–2, gradually softening as the flux declined. The optical/UV counterpart brightened in tandem with the X-ray emission and exhibited a blue continuum with broad Balmer absorption features. Together with the optical/UV–X-ray luminosity correlation, this supports a disk-dominated origin of the optical/UV outburst emission, with viscous heating likely playing a major role and irradiation possibly contributing, especially in the UV. No radio counterpart was detected, implying at most very faint jet activity. Taken together, the observed properties support the classification of EPJ174942.2–384834 as a very faint X-ray transient black hole candidate. This study demonstrates the ability of the Einstein Probe to uncover and characterize the faintest accreting compact objects in the Galaxy.

Authors: Coti Zelati, F; Marino, A; Wang, YL; Veresvarska, M; Rea, N

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: American Astronomical Society
• Journal: The Astrophysical Journal
• Volume: 1003
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 224
• Article number: 224
• Publication date: 2026-05-28
• Acceptance date: 2026-04-28
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ae66f9
• EISSN: 1538-4357
• ISSN: 0004637X, 0004-637X
• Language: English
• Keywords: Accretion; Low-mass x-ray binary stars; Stellar mass black holes; X-ray transient sources; Time domain astronomy