A Disk Instability Model for the Quasi-periodic Eruptions of GSN 069

Pan, Xin; Li, Shuang-Liang; Cao, Xiuxia; Miniutti, G.; Gu, Minfeng

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac5faf

Cited by 32 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Although enough flares have been seen in a number of cases for the mean period to be fairly well determined (as many as 15 in eRO-QPE1: Arcodia et al 2021), in all cases the interflare intervals fluctuate by modest amounts, hence the adjective "quasiperiodic." Since the first example was published a few years ago, numerous mechanisms have been suggested to explain these enigmatic events: self-lensing of a pair of supermassive black holes (Ingram et al 2021), accretion disk instability (Pan et al 2022), interactions between stars and accretion disks (Suková et al 2021;Xian et al 2021), and a number of variations on tidal stripping of nearby stars by supermassive black holes (King 2022;Linial & Sari 2022;Metzger et al 2022;Wang et al 2022;Zhao et al 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quasiperiodic Erupters: A Stellar Mass-transfer Model for the Radiation

Krolik

Linial

2022

ApJ

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Quasiperiodic erupters are a remarkable class of objects exhibiting very-large-amplitude quasiperiodic X-ray flares. Although numerous dynamical models have been proposed to explain them, relatively little attention has been given to using the properties of their radiation to constrain their dynamics. Here we show that the observed luminosity, spectrum, repetition period, duty cycle, and fluctuations in the latter two quantities point toward a model in which a main-sequence star on a moderately eccentric orbit around a supermassive black hole periodically transfers mass to the Roche lobe of the black hole; orbital dynamics lead to mildly relativistic shocks near the black hole; and thermal X-rays at the observed temperature are emitted by the gas as it flows away from the shock. Strong X-ray irradiation of the star by the flare itself augments the mass transfer, creates fluctuations in flare timing, and stirs turbulence in the stellar atmosphere that amplifies the magnetic field to a level at which magnetic stresses can accelerate infall of the transferred mass toward the black hole.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quasiperiodic Erupters: A Stellar Mass-transfer Model for the Radiation

Krolik

Linial

2022

ApJ

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“…However, there is an inconsistency between the model predictions and the observational data (Arcodia et al 2021). Pan et al (2022) suggested that the radiation-pressure instability model can explain the QPEs if a nonzero viscous torque condition is included on the inner boundary of the disk. This model can explain the QPEs in active galaxies, but it has difficulty explaining the QPEs that are observed in lowluminosity active galactic nuclei (AGNs; e.g., eRO-QPE1/2, Wevers et al 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Model for the Possible Connection Between a Tidal Disruption Event and Quasi-periodic Eruption in GSN 069

Wang¹,

Yin²,

Ma³

et al. 2022

ApJ

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Quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs) are found in the center of five galaxies, where a tidal disruption event (TDE)-like event has been reported in GSN 069, which occurred a couple of years before the QPEs. We explain the connection of these phenomena based on a model of a highly eccentric white dwarf (WD) 104−6 M ⊙ massive black hole (MBH) binary formed by the Hill mechanism. In this system, the tidally induced internal oscillation of a WD can heat the WD envelope thereby inducing tidal nova and inflating the WD envelope, which can be captured by the MBH and form a TDE. The tidal stripping of the surviving WD in the eccentric orbit can produce QPEs. We also apply this model to the other four QPE sources. Based on the estimated fallback rate, we find that the remaining time after the QPE-observed time for these QPEs is only around 1–2 yr based on our simple model estimation, after which the WD will be fully disrupted. We also show that the accretion rate can be much higher than the Eddington accretion rate in the final stage of these QPE sources. The peak frequency of the spectral energy distribution of the disk stays in the soft X-ray band (∼0.1–1 keV), which is consistent with observational results.

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“…An alternative class of models are based on possible instabilities in the BH accretion disk (Miniutti et al 2019;Sniegowska et al 2020;Pan et al 2022;Raj & Nixon 2021). The simplest version of this, based on thermal-viscous instability (Lightman & Eardley 1974), is disfavored by detailed modeling of the X-ray lightcurves (Arcodia et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The simplest version of this, based on thermal-viscous instability (Lightman & Eardley 1974), is disfavored by detailed modeling of the X-ray lightcurves (Arcodia et al 2021). More complex models (e.g., Pan et al 2022;Raj & Nixon 2021), with more free parameters (describing the viscous torques, magnetic pressure, size of the unstable zones, spin-disk misalignment, etc.) are potentially viable for some QPEs that are in bright, long-lived active galac-Figure 1.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quasi-periodic eruptions from mildly eccentric unstable mass transfer in galactic nuclei

Quataert¹

2022

Preprint

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We propose that the recently observed quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs) in galactic nuclei are produced by unstable mass transfer due to Roche lobe overflow of a M * 0.5M main-sequence star in a mildly eccentric (e ∼ 0.5) orbit. We argue that the QPE emission is powered by circularization shocks, but not directly by black hole accretion. Our model predicts the presence of a time-steady accretion disk that is bolometrically brighter than the time-averaged QPE luminosity, but primarily emits in the extreme-UV. This is consistent with the quiescent soft X-ray emission detected in between the eruptions in eROSITA QPE1, QPE2, and GSN 069. Such accretion disks have an unusual νL ν ∝ ν 12/7 optical spectrum. The lifetime of the bright QPE phase, 10 2 -10 3 yrs, is set by mass-loss triggered by ram-pressure interaction between the star and the accretion disk fed by the star itself. We show that the stellar orbits needed to explain QPEs can be efficiently created by the Hills breakup of tight stellar binaries provided that (i) the stellar binary orbit is tidally hardened before the breakup due to diffusive growth of the f-mode amplitude, and (ii) the captured star's orbit decays by gravitational wave emission without significant orbital angular momentum diffusion (which is the case for low-mass black holes, M BH 10 6 M ). We conclude by discussing the implications of our model for hyper-velocity stars, extreme mass ratio inspirals, repeating partial TDEs, and related stellar phenomena in galactic nuclei.

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A Disk Instability Model for the Quasi-periodic Eruptions of GSN 069

Cited by 32 publications

References 32 publications

Quasiperiodic Erupters: A Stellar Mass-transfer Model for the Radiation

Quasiperiodic Erupters: A Stellar Mass-transfer Model for the Radiation

A Model for the Possible Connection Between a Tidal Disruption Event and Quasi-periodic Eruption in GSN 069

Quasi-periodic eruptions from mildly eccentric unstable mass transfer in galactic nuclei

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