JWST and Keck Observations of the Off-Nuclear TDE AT 2024tvd: A Massive Nuclear Star Cluster and Minor-Merger Origin for its Black Hole
Fuente:
arXiv
Gespeichert in:
| Hauptverfasser: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Veröffentlicht: |
2025
|
| Schlagworte: | |
| Online-Zugang: | |
| Tags: |
Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
|
| _version_ | 1866911209918300160 |
|---|---|
| author | Patra, Kishore C. Foley, Ryan J. Earl, Nicholas Davis, Kyle W. Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico Villar, V. Ashley Gomez, Sebastian French, K. Decker Taggart, Kirsty Arunachalam, Prasiddha Macias, Phillip Kaur, Ravjit Tinyanont, Samaporn |
| author_facet | Patra, Kishore C. Foley, Ryan J. Earl, Nicholas Davis, Kyle W. Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico Villar, V. Ashley Gomez, Sebastian French, K. Decker Taggart, Kirsty Arunachalam, Prasiddha Macias, Phillip Kaur, Ravjit Tinyanont, Samaporn |
| contents | We present JWST/NIRSpec and NIRCam observations of the first optically selected off-nuclear tidal disruption event (TDE), AT 2024tvd, along with Keck/KCWI integral field unit spectroscopy. The spectra show broad H and He emission lines that are characteristic of a TDE. Stellar kinematics show smooth host-galaxy morphology and ordered bulge rotation, with no evidence of disturbances in velocity, dispersion, age or metallicity space. We construct the first quasi-simultaneous spectral-energy distribution (SED) from X-rays to infrared for a TDE and decompose it into three components: the TDE accretion flow, an unresolved nuclear star cluster (NSC), and heated dust emission. The accretion component implies a black hole mass of $\log(M_\bullet/M_\odot) = 5.50\pm 0.04$, an instantaneous super-Eddington accretion rate of $\log (\dot{M}/M_{\odot} yr^{-1}) = -1.22 \pm 0.04$, and an outer disk photosphere radius of $\log(r_{out}/r_{g}) = 3.8 \pm 0.1$. The dust emission is well described by a blackbody with $T_{dust} = 873\pm 15$ K and peak luminosity $\log (L_{dust}/erg$ $s^{-1}) = 40.80\pm 0.01$, consistent with a dust echo near the sublimation radius. The SED is best fit when including additional stellar emission above the galaxy background at the TDE location, corresponding to $\log(M_{\star}/M_\odot) = 7.97^{+0.16}_{-0.26}$, which we interpret as a massive NSC or an ultra-compact dwarf galaxy. These results support a minor-merger origin for the MBH responsible for the TDE over scenarios involving gravitational recoil or dynamical ejection from the nucleus. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_12572 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | JWST and Keck Observations of the Off-Nuclear TDE AT 2024tvd: A Massive Nuclear Star Cluster and Minor-Merger Origin for its Black Hole Patra, Kishore C. Foley, Ryan J. Earl, Nicholas Davis, Kyle W. Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico Villar, V. Ashley Gomez, Sebastian French, K. Decker Taggart, Kirsty Arunachalam, Prasiddha Macias, Phillip Kaur, Ravjit Tinyanont, Samaporn High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Astrophysics of Galaxies Solar and Stellar Astrophysics We present JWST/NIRSpec and NIRCam observations of the first optically selected off-nuclear tidal disruption event (TDE), AT 2024tvd, along with Keck/KCWI integral field unit spectroscopy. The spectra show broad H and He emission lines that are characteristic of a TDE. Stellar kinematics show smooth host-galaxy morphology and ordered bulge rotation, with no evidence of disturbances in velocity, dispersion, age or metallicity space. We construct the first quasi-simultaneous spectral-energy distribution (SED) from X-rays to infrared for a TDE and decompose it into three components: the TDE accretion flow, an unresolved nuclear star cluster (NSC), and heated dust emission. The accretion component implies a black hole mass of $\log(M_\bullet/M_\odot) = 5.50\pm 0.04$, an instantaneous super-Eddington accretion rate of $\log (\dot{M}/M_{\odot} yr^{-1}) = -1.22 \pm 0.04$, and an outer disk photosphere radius of $\log(r_{out}/r_{g}) = 3.8 \pm 0.1$. The dust emission is well described by a blackbody with $T_{dust} = 873\pm 15$ K and peak luminosity $\log (L_{dust}/erg$ $s^{-1}) = 40.80\pm 0.01$, consistent with a dust echo near the sublimation radius. The SED is best fit when including additional stellar emission above the galaxy background at the TDE location, corresponding to $\log(M_{\star}/M_\odot) = 7.97^{+0.16}_{-0.26}$, which we interpret as a massive NSC or an ultra-compact dwarf galaxy. These results support a minor-merger origin for the MBH responsible for the TDE over scenarios involving gravitational recoil or dynamical ejection from the nucleus. |
| title | JWST and Keck Observations of the Off-Nuclear TDE AT 2024tvd: A Massive Nuclear Star Cluster and Minor-Merger Origin for its Black Hole |
| topic | High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Astrophysics of Galaxies Solar and Stellar Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.12572 |