Detection of disk-jet coprecession in a tidal disruption event
Journal article, 2025
Theories and simulations predict that intense space-time curvature near black holes bends the trajectories of light and matter, driving disk and jet precession under relativistic torques. However, direct observational evidence of disk-jet coprecession remains elusive. Here, we report the most compelling case to date: a tidal disruption event (TDE) exhibiting unprecedented 19.6-day quasi-periodic variations in both x-rays and radio, with x-ray amplitudes exceeding an order of magnitude. The nearly synchronized x-ray and radio variations suggest a shared mechanism regulating the emission regions. We demonstrate that a disk-jet Lense-Thirring precession model successfully reproduces these variations while requiring a low-spin black hole. This study uncovers previously uncharted short-term radio variability in TDEs, highlights the transformative potential of high-cadence radio monitoring, and offers profound insights into disk-jet physics.
Author
Yanan Wang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zikun Lin
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Linhui Wu
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wei Hua Lei
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Shuyuan Wei
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shuang Nan Zhang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Long Ji
Sun Yat-Sen University
Santiago Del Palacio
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
R. D. Baldi
Istituto di Radioastronomia
Yang Huang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jifeng Liu
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Beijing Normal University
Bing Zhang
The University of Hong Kong
Aiyuan Yang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
R. Chen
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yangwei Zhang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Ailing Wang
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lei Yang
Anhui Normal University
Panos Charalampopoulos
University of Turku
David Williams-Baldwin
University of Manchester
Zhu Heng Yao
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fu Guo Xie
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Defu Bu
Shanghai Normal University
Hua Feng
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xinwu Cao
Zhejiang University
Hongzhou Wu
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Wenxiong Li
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Erlin Qiao
Chinese Academy of Sciences
G. Leloudas
Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
Joseph P. Anderson
European Southern Observatory Santiago
Millennium Institute of Astrophysics
X. W. Shu
Anhui Normal University
Dheeraj R. Pasham
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Hu Zou
Chinese Academy of Sciences
M. Nicholl
Queen's University Belfast
Thomas Wevers
Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Schmidt Family Foundation
Tomás E. Müller-Bravo
Trinity College Dublin
Arturo Prat University
Jing Wang
Guangxi University
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jian Yan Wei
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yu Lei Qiu
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wei Jian Guo
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Claudia P. Gutiérrez
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC)
M. Gromadzki
University of Warsaw
Cosimo Inserra
Cardiff University
Lydia Makrygianni
Lancaster University
F. Onori
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
T. Petrushevska
University of Nova Gorica
D. Altamirano
University of Southampton
L. Galbany
Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC)
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
M.A. Pérez-Torres
European University Cyprus
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
T.-W. Chen
National Central University
Science advances
2375-2548 (eISSN)
Vol. 11 50 eady9068-Subject Categories (SSIF 2025)
Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Cosmology
DOI
10.1126/sciadv.ady9068
PubMed
41370383
Related datasets
Data and code used in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 5 of the paper "Detection of disk-jet co-precession in a tidal disruption event" [dataset]
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14195067