A Massive Black Hole 0.8 kpc from the Host Nucleus Revealed by the Offset Tidal Disruption Event AT2024tvd

Abstract Tidal disruption events (TDEs) that are spatially offset from the nuclei of their host galaxies offer a new probe of massive black hole (MBH) wanderers, binaries, triples, and recoiling MBHs. Here we present AT2024tvd, the first off-nuclear TDE identified through optical sky surveys. High-resolution imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope shows that AT2024tvd is 0 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mover> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>.</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mtext>″</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:mover> </mml:math> 914 ± 0 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mover> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>.</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mtext>″</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:mover> </mml:math> 010 offset from the apparent center of its host galaxy, corresponding to a projected distance of 0.808 ± 0.009 kpc at z = 0.045. Chandra and Very Large Array observations support the same conclusion for the TDE’s X-ray and radio emission. AT2024tvd exhibits typical properties of nuclear TDEs, including a persistent hot UV/optical component that peaks at L bb ∼ 6 × 10 43 erg s −1 , broad hydrogen lines in its optical spectra, and delayed brightening of luminous ( L X,peak ∼ 3 × 10 43 erg s −1 ), highly variable soft X-ray emission. The MBH mass of AT2024tvd is 10 6±1 M ⊙ , at least 10 times lower than its host galaxy’s central black hole mass (≳10 8 M ⊙ ). The MBH in AT2024tvd has two possible origins: a wandering MBH from the lower-mass galaxy in a minor merger during the dynamical friction phase or a recoiling MBH ejected by triple interactions. Combining AT2024tvd with two previously known off-nuclear TDEs discovered in X-rays (3XMM J2150 and EP240222a), which likely involve intermediate-mass black holes in satellite galaxies, we find that the parent galaxies of all three events are very massive (∼10 10.9 M ⊙ ). This result aligns with expectations from cosmological simulations that the number of offset MBHs scales linearly with the host halo mass.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Published
2025-05-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/add7de
Citations
14
Primary Topic
Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
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article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
16.17
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article

A Massive Black Hole 0.8 kpc from the Host Nucleus Revealed by the Offset Tidal Disruption Event AT2024tvd

Erica Hammerstein, Avery Wold, Reed Riddle, Vikram Ravi et al.
14 citations
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
16.17
article

A Massive Black Hole 0.8 kpc from the Host Nucleus Revealed by the Offset Tidal Disruption Event AT2024tvd

Erica Hammerstein, Avery Wold, Reed Riddle, Vikram Ravi, Sjoert van Velzen, Jacob Wise, Nabeel Rehemtulla, Adam A. Miller, Itai Sfaradi, Luke Zoltan Kelley, J. Sollerman, K. D. Alexander, Yuhan Yao, M. J. Graham, Robert Stein, M. Gilfanov, Wenbin Lu, R. Michael Rich, Josiah Purdum, K-Ryan Hinds, C. Fremling, A. J. Drake, S. R. Kulkarni, D. A. Perley, R. Chornock, R. Sunyaev, Eric C. Bellm, J. C. A. Miller‐Jones, M. Nicholl, Steven L. Groom, R. Margutti, Chang Liu, Roger M. Smith, Charlotte Ward
article en
14 citations

Abstract

Abstract Tidal disruption events (TDEs) that are spatially offset from the nuclei of their host galaxies offer a new probe of massive black hole (MBH) wanderers, binaries, triples, and recoiling MBHs. Here we present AT2024tvd, the first off-nuclear TDE identified through optical sky surveys. High-resolution imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope shows that AT2024tvd is 0 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mover> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>.</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mtext>″</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:mover> </mml:math> 914 ± 0 <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mover> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>.</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mtext>″</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:mover> </mml:math> 010 offset from the apparent center of its host galaxy, corresponding to a projected distance of 0.808 ± 0.009 kpc at z = 0.045. Chandra and Very Large Array observations support the same conclusion for the TDE’s X-ray and radio emission. AT2024tvd exhibits typical properties of nuclear TDEs, including a persistent hot UV/optical component that peaks at L bb ∼ 6 × 10 43 erg s −1 , broad hydrogen lines in its optical spectra, and delayed brightening of luminous ( L X,peak ∼ 3 × 10 43 erg s −1 ), highly variable soft X-ray emission. The MBH mass of AT2024tvd is 10 6±1 M ⊙ , at least 10 times lower than its host galaxy’s central black hole mass (≳10 8 M ⊙ ). The MBH in AT2024tvd has two possible origins: a wandering MBH from the lower-mass galaxy in a minor merger during the dynamical friction phase or a recoiling MBH ejected by triple interactions. Combining AT2024tvd with two previously known off-nuclear TDEs discovered in X-rays (3XMM J2150 and EP240222a), which likely involve intermediate-mass black holes in satellite galaxies, we find that the parent galaxies of all three events are very massive (∼10 10.9 M ⊙ ). This result aligns with expectations from cosmological simulations that the number of offset MBHs scales linearly with the host halo mass.

The Astrophysical Journal LettersVol. 985(2)
Northwestern University (US), Leiden University (NL), California Institute of Technology (US), Queen's University Belfast (GB), Goddard Space Flight Center (US), University of California, Los Angeles (US), Stockholm University (SE), Princeton University (US), University of Washington (US), Curtin University (AU), Miller College (US), Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (DE), Simons Foundation (US), Joint Space Science Institute (US), AlbaNova (SE), International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (AU), Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (US), Deleted Institution, City University of Seattle (US), Liverpool John Moores University (GB), University of Maryland, College Park (US), University of California, Berkeley (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
16.17
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