ASASSN-15lh: a TDE about a maximally rotating 109 M⊙ black hole

Journal article

We model the light curves of the novel and extremely luminous transient ASASSN-15lh at nine different frequencies, from infrared to ultraviolet photon energies, as an evolving relativistic disc produced in the aftermath of a tidal disruption event (TDE). Good fits to all nine light curves are simultaneously obtained when Macc ≃ 0.07 M⊙ is accreted on to a black hole of mass M ≃ 109 M⊙ and near-maximal rotation a/rg = 0.99. The best-fitting black hole mass is consistent with a number of existing estimates from galactic scaling relationships. If confirmed, our results represent the detection of one of the most massive rapidly spinning black holes to date, and are strong evidence for a TDE origin for ASASSN-15lh. This would be the first TDE to be observed in the disc-dominated state at optical and infrared frequencies.

Authors: Mummery, A; Balbus, SA

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
• Volume: 497
• Issue: 1
• Pages: L13–L18
• Publication date: 2020-06-03
• Acceptance date: 2020-05-28
• DOI: 10.1093/mnrasl/slaa105
• EISSN: 1745-3933
• ISSN: 1745-3925
• Language: English
• Keywords: accretion discs; accretion; FFR; black hole physics