TY - JOUR
T1 - Discovery of extreme quasi-periodic eruptions in a newly accreting massive black hole
AU - Hernández-García, Lorena
AU - Chakraborty, Joheen
AU - Sánchez-Sáez, Paula
AU - Ricci, Claudio
AU - Cuadra, Jorge
AU - McKernan, Barry
AU - Ford, K. E.Saavik
AU - Arévalo, Patricia
AU - Rau, Arne
AU - Arcodia, Riccardo
AU - Kara, Erin
AU - Liu, Zhu
AU - Merloni, Andrea
AU - Bruni, Gabriele
AU - Goodwin, Adelle
AU - Arzoumanian, Zaven
AU - Assef, Roberto J.
AU - Baldini, Pietro
AU - Bayo, Amelia
AU - Bauer, Franz E.
AU - Bernal, Santiago
AU - Brightman, Murray
AU - Calistro Rivera, Gabriela
AU - Gendreau, Keith
AU - Homan, David
AU - Krumpe, Mirko
AU - Lira, Paulina
AU - Martínez-Aldama, Mary Loli
AU - Salvato, Mara
AU - Sotomayor, Belén
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2025.
PY - 2025/6
Y1 - 2025/6
N2 - Quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs) are rapid, recurring X-ray bursts from supermassive black holes, believed to result from interactions between accretion disks and surrounding matter. The galaxy SDSS1335+0728, previously stable for two decades, exhibited an increase in optical brightness in December 2019, followed by persistent active galactic nucleus (AGN)-like variability for 5 yr, suggesting the activation of a ~106-M⊙ black hole. Since February 2024, X-ray emission has been detected, revealing extreme ~4.5-d QPEs with high fluxes and amplitudes, long timescales, large integrated energies and a ~25-d superperiod. Low-significance UV variations are reported, probably related to the long timescales and large radii from which the emission originates. This discovery broadens the possible formation channels for QPEs, suggesting that they are linked not solely to tidal disruption events but more generally to newly formed accretion flows, which we are witnessing in real time in a turn-on AGN candidate.
AB - Quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs) are rapid, recurring X-ray bursts from supermassive black holes, believed to result from interactions between accretion disks and surrounding matter. The galaxy SDSS1335+0728, previously stable for two decades, exhibited an increase in optical brightness in December 2019, followed by persistent active galactic nucleus (AGN)-like variability for 5 yr, suggesting the activation of a ~106-M⊙ black hole. Since February 2024, X-ray emission has been detected, revealing extreme ~4.5-d QPEs with high fluxes and amplitudes, long timescales, large integrated energies and a ~25-d superperiod. Low-significance UV variations are reported, probably related to the long timescales and large radii from which the emission originates. This discovery broadens the possible formation channels for QPEs, suggesting that they are linked not solely to tidal disruption events but more generally to newly formed accretion flows, which we are witnessing in real time in a turn-on AGN candidate.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105002358564
U2 - 10.1038/s41550-025-02523-9
DO - 10.1038/s41550-025-02523-9
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105002358564
SN - 2397-3366
VL - 9
SP - 895
EP - 906
JO - Nature Astronomy
JF - Nature Astronomy
IS - 6
ER -