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Optical transient surveys have led to the discovery of dozens of stellar tidal disruption events (TDEs) by massive black hole in the centers of galaxies. Despite extensive searches, X-ray follow-up observations have produced no or only weak X-ray detections in most of them. Here we report the discovery of delayed X-ray brightening around 140 days after the optical outburst in the TDE OGLE16aaa, followed by several flux dips during the decay phase. These properties are unusual for standard TDEs and could be explained by the presence of supermassive black hole binary or patchy obscuration. In either scenario, the X-rays can be produced promptly after the disruption but are blocked in the early phase, possibly by a radiation-dominated ejecta which leads to the bulk of optical and ultraviolet emission. Our findings imply that the reprocessing is important in the TDE early evolution, and X-ray observations are promising in revealing supermassive black hole binaries. The discrepancy between the optical and X-ray properties of tidal disruption events (TDE) is an unresolved issue. Here, the authors show delayed X-ray brightening after the optical flare in TDE OGLE16aaa followed by several flux dips during the decay phase that could be explained by the presence of supermassive black hole binary or patchy obscuration.

We report the discovery of a peculiar X-ray transient, EP240408a, by Einstein Probe (EP) and follow-up studies made with EP , Swift , NICER , GROND, ATCA and other ground-based multiwavelength telescopes. The new transient was first detected with Wide-field X-ray Telescope (WXT) on board EP on April 8th, 2024, manifested in an intense yet brief X-ray flare lasting for 12 s. The flare reached a peak flux of 3.9 × 10 −9 erg cm −2 s −1 in 0.5–4 keV, ∼300 times brighter than the underlying X-ray emission detected throughout the observation. Rapid and more precise follow-up observations by EP /FXT, Swift and NICER confirmed the finding of this new transient. Its X-ray spectrum is non-thermal in 0.5–10 keV, with apower-law photon index varying within 1.8–2.5. The X-ray light curve shows a plateau lasting for ∼4 d, followed by a steep decay till becoming undetectable ∼10 d after the initial detection. Based on its temporal property and constraints from previous EP observations, an unusual timescale in the range of 7–23 d is found for EP240408a, which is intermediate between the commonly found fast and long-term transients. No counterparts have been found in optical and near-infrared, with the earliest observation at 17 h after the initial X-ray detection, suggestive of intrinsically weak emission in these bands. We demonstrate that the remarkable properties of EP240408a are inconsistent with any of the transient types known so far, by comparison with, in particular, jetted tidal disruption events, gamma-ray bursts, X-ray binaries and fast blue optical transients. The nature of EP240408a thus remains an enigma. We suggest that EP240408a may represent a new type of transients with intermediate timescales of the order of ∼10 d. The detection and follow-ups of more of such objects are essential for revealing their origin.

Phosphorus has recently received extensive attention as a promising anode for lithium ion batteries （LIBs） due to its high theoretical capacity of 2,596 mAh·g^-1. To develop high-performance phosphorus anodes for LIBs, carbon materials have been hybridized with phosphorus （P-C） to improve dispersion and con- ductivity. However, the specific capacity, rate capability, and cycling stability of P-C anodes are still less than satisfactory for practical applications. Furthermore, the exact effects of the carbon support on the electrochemical performance of the P-C anodes are not fully understood. Herein, a series of xP-yC anode materials for LIBs were prepared by a simple and efficient ball-milling method. 6P-4C and 3P-7C were found to be optimum mass ratios of x/y, and delivered initial discharge capacities of 1,803.5 and 1,585.3-mAh·g^-1, respectively, at 0.1 C in the voltage range 0.02-2 V, with an initial capacity retention of 68.3% over 200 cycles （more than 4 months cycling life） and 40.8% over 450 cycles. The excellent electrochemical performance of the 6P-4C and 3P-7C samples was attributed to a synergistic effect from both the adsorbed P and carbon.

X-ray quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs) are discovered recently in active galaxies with unknown driven mechanism. Under the assumption that QPEs are caused by star-disc collisions, we adopt full relativistic method and show that both the orbital parameters of the star and also the mass and spinning of the massive black hole (MBH) can be revealed by using the time of arrival (TOA) of the QPEs. By applying the model to the observed QPEs of GSN069, we find that the star is in a near-circular orbit ( \\(e_\\bullet=0.05^{+0.02}_{-0.02}\\)) with semimajor axis of \\(\\sim 365^{+54}_{-49}r_{\\rm g}\\) around a MBH with \\(M_\\bullet=3.0^{+0.9}_{-0.6} \\times10^5M_\\odot\\). The alternative short and long recurring time of the QPEs of GSN069 can be well explained by the small eccentricity and the orbital precession of the star. We find that the QPEs of GSN069 are possibly driven by a striped stellar core colliding with accretion disc after partial tidal disruption event around the MBH. For GSN069-like galaxies, if continuous X-ray monitoring of QPE events can be accumulated with uncertainties of TOA \\(\\lesssim 100-150\\)s, the spin of massive black hole can be constrained by fitting to QPEs. Our results show that the timing of QPEs can provide a unique probe for measuring the spinning of MBH and tests of no-hair theorem.

We present the discovery of a sample of 18 low-redshift (z<0.3) galaxies with transient nuclear radio emission. These galaxies are not or weakly detected in the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty cm survey performed on 1993-2009, but have brightened significantly in the radio flux (by a factor of >5) in the epoch I (2017-2019) observations of Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS). All the 18 galaxies have been detected in the epoch II VLASS observations in 2020-2021, for which the radio flux is found to evolve slowly (by a factor of ~40%) over a period of about three years. 15 galaxies have been observed in the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey, and a flat or inverted spectral slope between 888 MHz and 3 GHz is found. Based on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra taken before the radio brightening, 14 out of 18 can be classified to be LINERs or normal galaxies with weak or no nuclear activity. Most galaxies are red and massive, with more than half having central black hole masses above 10^8Msun. We find that only one galaxy in our sample displays optical flare lasting for at least two months, and a long decay in the infrared light curve that can be explained as the dust-heated echo emission of central optical flare, such as a stellar tidal disruption event. We discuss several possibilities for the transient radio emission and conclude that it is likely associated with a new-born radio jet triggered by short sporadic fueling of supermassive black hole. Such a scenario can be tested with further multi-frequency radio observations of these sources through measuring their radio flux variability and spectral evolution.

We hereby report the discovery of ATLAS17jrp as an extraordinary TDE in star-forming galaxy SDSSJ162034.99+240726.5 in our recent sample of mid-infrared outbursts in nearby galaxies. Its optical/UV light curves rise to a peak luminosity \\(\\sim1.06\\times10^{44}\\rm\\,erg\\,s^{-1}\\) in about a month and then decay as \\(\\rm t^{-5/3}\\) with a roughly constant temperature around 19000~K, and the optical spectra show a blue continuum and very broad Balmer lines with FWHM\\(\\sim\\)15000 km/s which gradually narrowed to 1400 km/s within 4 years, all agreeing well with other optical TDEs. A delayed and rapidly rising X-ray flare with a peak luminosity \\(\\rm \\sim 1.27\\times10^{43}\\,erg\\,s^{-1}\\) was detected at \\(\\rm \\sim\\) 170 days after the optical peak. The high MIR luminosity of ATLAS17jrp (\\(\\sim2\\times10^{43} \\rm\\,erg\\,s^{-1}\\)) has revealed a distinctive dusty environment with covering factor as high as \\(\\sim0.2\\), that is comparable with that of torus in active galactic nuclei but at least one order of magnitude higher than normal optical TDEs. Therefore, ATLAS17jrp turns out to be one of the rare unambiguous TDE found in star-forming galaxies and its high dust covering factor implies that the dust extinction could play an important role in the absence of optical TDEs in star-forming galaxies.

We report the discovery of a second optical flare that occurred in September 2021 in IRAS F01004-2237, where the first flare occurred in 2010 has been reported, and present a detailed analysis of multi-band data. The position of the flare coincides with the galaxy centre with a precision of 650 pc. The flare peaks in \\(\\sim50\\) days with an absolute magnitude of \\(\\sim-21\\) and fades in two years roughly following \\(L\\propto t^{-5/3}\\). It maintains a nearly constant blackbody temperature of \\(\\sim\\)22,000 K in the late time. Its optical and UV spectra show hydrogen and helium broad emission lines with full width at half maxima of 7,000--21,000 km s\\(^{-1}\\) and He II/H\\(\\alpha\\) ratio of 0.3--2.3. It shows weak X-ray emission relative to UV emission, with X-ray flares lasting for \\(<2-3\\) weeks, during which the spectrum is soft with a power-law index \\(\\Gamma=4.4^{+1.4}_{-1.3}\\). These characters are consistent with a tidal disruption event (TDE), ruling out the possibilities of a supernova or an active galactic nuclei flare. With a TDE model, we infer a peak UV luminosity of \\(3.3\\pm0.2\\times10^{44}\\) erg s\\(^{-1}\\) and an energy budget of \\(4.5\\pm0.2\\times10^{51}\\) erg. The two optical flares separated by \\(10.3\\pm0.3\\) years can be interpreted as repeating partial TDEs, double TDEs, or two independent TDEs. Although no definitive conclusion can be drawn, the partial TDEs interpretation predicts a third flare around 2033, and the independent TDEs interpretation predicts a high TDE rate of \\(\\gtrsim10^{-2}\\) yr\\(^{-1}\\) in F01004-2237, both of which can be tested by future observations.

The past decade has experienced an explosive increase of optically-discovered tidal disruption events (TDEs) with the advent of modern time-domain surveys. However, we still lack a comprehensive observational view of their infrared (IR) echoes in spite of individual detections. To this end, we have conducted a statistical study of IR variability of the 23 optical TDEs discovered between 2009 and 2018 utilizing the full public dataset of Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. The detection of variability is performed on the difference images, yielding out 11 objects with significant (>\\(3\\sigma\\)) variability in at least one band while dust emission can be only fitted in 8 objects. Their peak dust luminosity is around \\(10^{41}\\)-\\(10^{42}\\) erg/s, corresponding to a dust covering factor \\(f_c\\sim0.01\\) at scale of sub-parsec. The only exception is the disputed source ASASSN-15lh, which shows an ultra-high dust luminosity (\\(\\sim10^{43.5}\\) erg/s) and make its nature even elusive. Other non-detected objects show even lower \\(f_c\\), which could be one more order of magnitude lower. The derived \\(f_c\\) is generally much smaller than those of dusty tori in active galactic nuclei (AGNs), suggesting either a dearth of dust or a geometrically thin and flat disk in the vicinity of SMBHs. Our results also indicate that the optical TDE sample (post-starburst galaxies overrepresented) is seriously biased to events with little dust at sub-pc scale while TDEs in dusty star-forming systems could be more efficiently unveiled by IR echoes.

Recently we discovered an unprecedented supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) candidate in the nearby Seyfert galaxy SDSS J1430+2303, which is predicted to merge within three years. X-ray spectroscopy may bring unique kinematic evidence for the last inspiraling stage, when the binary is too close to allow each of them to hold an individual broad line region. We try to confirm the unique SMBHB merger event and understand the associated high-energy processes from a comprehensive X-ray view. We observed SDSS J1430+2303 with XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, Chandra, and Swift spanning the first ~200 days since its discovery. X-ray variability, up to a factor of 7, has been detected on a timescale of a few days. The broadband spectrum from 0.2-70 keV can be well fitted with a model consisting of a power law and a relativistic reflection covered by a warm absorber. The properties of the warm absorber changed dramatically, for example, with a decrease in the line-of-sight velocity from ~0.2c to ~0.02c, between the two XMM-Newton observations separated by only 19 days, which can be naturally understood in the context of the SMBHB; although, the clumpy wind scenario cannot be completely excluded. Broad Fe Kalpha emission has been robustly detected, though its velocity shift or profile change is not yet measurable. Further longer X-ray observations are highly encouraged to detect the expected orbital motion of the binary.

Infrared echo has proven to be an effective means to discover transient accretion events of supermassive black holes (SMBHs), such as tidal disruption events (TDEs) and changing-look active galactic nuclei (AGNs), in dusty circumnuclear environments. To explore the dusty populations of SMBH transient events, we have constructed a large sample of Mid-infrared Outbursts in Nearby Galaxies (MIRONG) and performed multiwavelength observations. Here we present the results of multiepoch spectroscopic follow-up observations of a subsample of 54 objects spanning a time scale of 4 yr. Emission-line variability was detected in 22 of them with either emergence or enhancement of broad Balmer emission lines in comparison with pre-outburst spectra. Coronal lines, HeII{\\lambda}4686 and Bowen line NIII{\\lambda}4640 appeared in the spectra of nine,seven and two sources, respectively. These results suggest that MIRONG is a mixed bag of different transient sources. We have tentatively classified them into different subclass according to their spectral evolution and light curves. Two sources have been in a steady high broad H{\\alpha} flux up to the latest observation and might be turn-on AGNs. Broad lines faded out in the remaining sources, indicating a transient ionizing source ignited by TDE or sporadic gas accretion. Thirty-one sources do not show noticeable spectral change with respect to their pre-outburst spectra. They have a statistically redder MIR color and lower MIR luminosity of the outbursts,which are consistent with heavily obscured events.