Published October 10, 2011 | Version v1
Journal article

BLACK HOLE SPIN IN Sw J1644+57 and Sw J2058+05

  • 1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV 89154-4002 (United States)

Description

Recently, a hard X-ray transient event, Sw J1644+57, was discovered by the Swift satellite. It likely marks the onset of a relativistic jet from a supermassive black hole (BH), possibly triggered by a tidal disruption event (TDE). Another candidate in the same category, Sw J2058+05, was also reported. The low event rate suggests that only a small fraction of TDEs launch relativistic jets. A common speculation is that these rare events are related to rapidly spinning BHs. We attribute jet launching to the Blandford-Znajek mechanism and use the available data to constrain the BH spin parameter for the two events. It is found that the two BHs indeed carry a moderate to high spin, suggesting that BH spin is likely the crucial factor behind the Sw J1644+57-like events.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/740/1/L27

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Astrophysical Journal Letters
Journal Volume
740
Journal Issue
1
Journal Page Range
[4 p.]
ISSN
2041-8205

INIS

Country of Publication
United States
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
43043306
Subject category
S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
Descriptors DEI
BLACK HOLES; HARD X RADIATION; JETS; SPIN
Descriptors DEC
ANGULAR MOMENTUM; ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION; IONIZING RADIATIONS; PARTICLE PROPERTIES; RADIATIONS; X RADIATION