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THE SUDDEN DEATH OF THE NEAREST QUASAR

Author(s)
Schawinski, Kevin; Evans, Daniel A.; Virani, Shanil; Urry, C. Megan; Keel, William C.; Natarajan, Priyamvada; Lintott, Chris J.; Manning, Anna; Coppi, Paolo; Kaviraj, Sugata; Bamford, Steven P.; Józsa, Gyula I. G.; Garrett, Michael; van Arkel, Hanny; Gay, Pamela L.; Fortson, Lucy; ... Show more Show less
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Abstract
Galaxy formation is significantly modulated by energy output from supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies which grow in highly efficient luminous quasar phases. The timescale on which black holes transition into and out of such phases is, however, unknown. We present the first measurement of the shutdown timescale for an individual quasar using X-ray observations of the nearby galaxy IC 2497, which hosted a luminous quasar no more than 70,000 years ago that is still seen as a light echo in "Hanny's Voorwerp," but whose present-day radiative output is lower by at least two, and more likely by over four, orders of magnitude. This extremely rapid shutdown provides new insight into the physics of accretion in supermassive black holes and may signal a transition of the accretion disk to a radiatively inefficient state.
Date issued
2010-10
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/95688
Department
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Journal
Astrophysical Journal. Letters
Publisher
IOP Publishing
Citation
Schawinski, Kevin, Daniel A. Evans, Shanil Virani, C. Megan Urry, William C. Keel, Priyamvada Natarajan, Chris J. Lintott, et al. “THE SUDDEN DEATH OF THE NEAREST QUASAR.” The Astrophysical Journal 724, no. 1 (October 26, 2010): L30–L33. © 2010 The American Astronomical Society
Version: Final published version
ISSN
2041-8205
2041-8213

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