A fast X-ray transient from a weak relativistic jet associated with a type Ic-BL supernova

Creators: Sun, H.¹; Li, W.-X.¹; Liu, L.-D.²; Gao, H.³; Wang, X.-F.⁴; Yuan, W.^{1, 5}; Zhang, B.⁶; Filippenko, A. V.⁷; Xu, D.^{1, 8}; An, T.^{5, 9}; Ai, S.¹⁰; Brink, T. G.⁷; Liu, Y.¹; Liu, Y.-Q.⁹; Wang, C.-Y.⁴; Wu, Q.-Y.^{1, 5}; Wu, X.-F.¹¹; Yang, Y.^{4, 7}; Zhang, B.-B.^{11, 12, 13}; Zheng, W.-K.⁷; Ahumada, T.¹⁴; Dai, Z.-G.¹⁵; Delaunay, J.¹⁶; Elias-Rosa, N.^{17, 18}; Benetti, S.¹⁷; Fu, S.-Y.^{1, 5}; Howell, D. A.^{19, 20}; Huang, Y.-F.^{12, 13}; Kasliwal, M. M.¹⁴; Karambelkar, V.¹⁴; Stein, R.¹⁴; Lei, W.-H.²¹; Lian, T.-Y.^{1, 5}; Peng, Z.-K.³; Frederiks, D. D.; Ridnaia, A. V.; Svinkin, D. S.; Wang, X.-Y.^{12, 13}; Wang, A.-L.^{9, 22}; Wei, D.-M.¹¹; An, J.^{1, 5}; Andrews, M.¹⁹; Bai, J.-M²³; Dai, C.-Y.^{12, 13}; Ehgamberdiev, S. A.^{24, 25}; Fan, Z.^{1, 5}; Farah, J.^{19, 20}; Feng, H.-C.²³; Fynbo, J. P. U.¹⁰; Guo, W.-J.¹; Guo, Z.^{26, 27, 28}; Hu, M.-K.⁴; Hu, J.-W.¹; Jiang, S.-Q.^{1, 5}; Jin, J.-J.¹; Li, A.³; Li, J.-D.³; Li, R.-Z.²⁰; Liang, Y.-F.^{11, 15}; Ling, Z.-X.^{1, 3, 5}; Liu, X.^{1, 5}; Mao, J.-R.^{1, 23}; McCully, C.^{19, 20}; Mirzaqulov, D.²⁴; Newsome, M.^{19, 20}; Padilla Gonzalez, E.^{19, 20}; Pan, X.¹; Terreran, G.¹⁹; Tinyanont, S.²⁹; Wang, B.-T.²³; Wang, L.-Z.¹; Wen, X.-D.³; Xiang, D.-F.^{4, 30}; Xue, S.-J.¹; Yang, J.^{12, 13}; Zhu, Z.-P.¹; Cai, Z.-M.³¹; Castro-Tirado, A. J.^{32, 33}; Chen, F.-S.³⁴; Chen, H.-L.³⁵; Chen, T.-X.²²; Chen, W.^{1, 5}; Chen, Y.-H.³¹; Chen, Y.-F.³⁴; Chen, Y.²²; Cheng, H.-Q.¹; Cordier, B.³⁶; Cui, C.-Z.^{1, 5}; Cui, W.-W.²²; Dai, Y.-F.¹; Fan, D.-W.¹; Feng, H.²²; Guan, J.²²; Han, D.-W.²²; Hou, D.-J.²²; Hu, H.-B.¹; Huang, M.-H.^{1, 5}; Huo, J.²²; Jia, S.-M.²²; Jia, Z.-Q.¹; Jiang, B.-W.³⁷; Jin, C.-C.^{1, 3, 5}; Jin, G.³⁷; Kuulkers, E.³⁸; Li, C.-K.²²; Li, D.-Y.¹; Li, J.-F.³⁴; Li, L.-H.³⁷; Li, M.-S.²²; Li, W.²²; Li, Z.-D.³⁴; Liu, C.-Z.²²; Liu, H.-Y.¹; Liu, H.-Q.³¹; Liu, M.-J.^{1, 5}; Lu, F.-J.²²; Luo, L.-D.²²; Ma, J.²²; Mao, X.^{1, 5}; Nandra, K.³⁹; O'Brien, P.⁴⁰; Pan, H.-W.¹; Rau, A.³⁹; Rea, N.^{18, 41}; Sanders, J.³⁹; Song, L.-M.²²; Sun, S.-L.³⁴; Sun, X.-J.³⁴; Tan, Y. -Y.⁴²; Tang, Q.-J.³⁵; Tao, Y.-H.¹; Wang, H.²²; Wang, J.²²; Wang, L.⁴³; Wang, W.-X.¹; Wang, Y.-L.^{1, 5}; Wang, Y.-S.²²; Xiong, D.-R.²³; Xu, H.-T.⁴²; Xu, J.-J.²²; Xu, X.-P.^{1, 5}; Xu, Y.-F.^{1, 5}; Xu, Z.³⁷; Xue, C.-B.⁴²; Xue, Y.-L.³⁴; Yan, A.-L.³⁴; Yang, H.-N.^{1, 5}; Yang, X.-T.²²; Yang, Y.-J.²²; Zhang, C.¹; Zhang, J.²²; Zhang, M.¹; Zhang, S.-N.²²; Zhang, W.-D.¹; Zhang, W.-J.¹; Zhang, Y.-H.³¹; Zhang, Z.^{1, 5}; Zhang, Z.³⁷; Zhang, Z.-L.²²; Zhao, D.-H.¹; Zhao, H.-S.²²; Zhao, X.-F.²²; Zhao, Z.-J.²²; Zhou, Y.-L.³¹; Zhu, Y.-X.²²; Zhu, Z.-C.³¹; Zou, H.¹

1. National Astronomical Observatories
2. Central China Normal University
3. Beijing Normal University
4. Tsinghua University
5. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
6. University of Nevada, Las Vegas
7. University of California, Berkeley
8. Altay Astronomical Observatory, Altay, China
9. Shanghai Astronomical Observatory
10. University of Copenhagen
11. Purple Mountain Observatory
12. Nanjing University
13. Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China
14. California Institute of Technology
15. University of Science and Technology of China
16. Pennsylvania State University
17. Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova
18. Institute of Space Sciences
19. Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network
20. University of California, Santa Barbara
21. Huazhong University of Science and Technology
22. Institute of High Energy Physics
23. Yunnan Observatories
24. Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute
25. National University of Uzbekistan
26. University of Valparaíso
27. Millennium Institute of Astrophysics
28. University of Hertfordshire
29. National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand
30. Beijing Planetarium
31. Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
32. Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
33. University of Malaga
34. Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics
35. Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry
36. CEA Saclay
37. North Night Vision Technology Co., LTD, Nanjing, China
38. European Space Research and Technology Centre
39. Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
40. University of Leicester
41. Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya
42. National Space Science Center
43. Institute of Electrical Engineering

Abstract

Massive stars end their lives as core-collapse supernovae, among which some extremes are broad-lined type Ic supernovae from Wolf–Rayet stars associated with long-duration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs) with powerful relativistic jets. Their less-extreme brethren make unsuccessful jets that are choked inside the stars, appearing as X-ray flashes or low-luminosity GRBs. However, there exists a population of extragalactic fast X-ray transients with timescales ranging from seconds to thousands of seconds, whose origins remain obscure. Here we report the discovery of the bright X-ray transient EP240414a detected by the Einstein Probe, which is associated with the type Ic supernova SN 2024gsa at a redshift of 0.401. The X-ray emission evolution is characterized by a very soft energy spectrum peaking at <1.3 keV, which makes it different from known LGRBs, X-ray flashes or low-luminosity GRBs. Follow-up observations at optical and radio bands revealed the existence of a weak relativistic jet that interacts with an extended shell surrounding the progenitor star. Located on the outskirts of a massive galaxy, this event reveals a population of explosions of Wolf–Rayet stars characterized by a less powerful engine that drives a successful but weak jet, possibly owing to a progenitor star with a smaller core angular momentum than in traditional LGRB progenitors.

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Acknowledgement

This work is based on data obtained with the Einstein Probe, a space mission supported by the Strategic Priority Program on Space Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with ESA, MPE and CNES (grant XDA15310000); the Strategic Priority Program on Space Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant number E02212A02S) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant number XDB0550200). We acknowledge the support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC grants 12288102, 12373040, 12021003, 12103065, 12333004, 12203071, 12033003, 12233002 and 12303047). This work is also supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (grant 2022YFF0711500). W.-X.L., S.-J.X., H.Z. and W.-J.G. acknowledge the support from the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant numbers XDB0550100 and XDB0550000), National Key R&D Program of China (grant numbers 2023YFA1607804, 2022YFA1602902 and 2023YFA1608100) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC; grant numbers 12120101003, 12373010 and 12233008) X.-F. Wang’s group at Tsinghua University is supported by NSFC (grants 12288102 and 12033003), and the Tencent Xplorer Prize. A.V.F.’s group at UC Berkeley is grateful for financial assistance from the Christopher R. Redlich Fund, G. and C. Bengier, C. and S. Winslow, A. Eustace (W.-K.Z. is a Bengier–Winslow–Eustace Specialist in Astronomy), W. Draper, T. and M. Draper, B. and K. Wood, S. Robertson (T.G.B. is a Draper–Wood–Robertson Specialist in Astronomy), and many other donors. S.A. has received support from the Carlsberg Foundation (CF18-0183, principal investigator I. Tamborra). This work is supported by the ANID FONDECYT project number 3220029. Z.G. is funded by ANID, Millennium Science Initiative, AIM23-001. Partly based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, owned in collaboration by the University of Turku and Aarhus University, and operated jointly by Aarhus University, the University of Turku and the University of Oslo, representing Denmark, Finland and Norway, the University of Iceland and Stockholm University at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, La Palma, Spain, of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. A.J.C.T. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry projects PID2020-118491GB-I00 and PID2023-151905OB-I00 and Junta de Andalucía grant P20_010168 and from the Severo Ochoa grant CEX2021-001131-S funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. We acknowledge the support of the staff of the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and Keck I 10 m telescope. This work makes use of the Las Cumbres Observatory global network of robotic telescopes. The LCO group is supported by NSF grants AST-1911225 and AST-1911151. S.B. and N.E.-R. acknowledge support from the PRIN-INAF 2022, ‘Shedding light on the nature of gap transients: from the observations to the models’. We gratefully acknowledge the China National Astronomical Data Center (NADC), the Astronomical Data Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Chinese Virtual Observatory (China-VO) for providing data resources and technical support. The work of D.S.S., A.V.R. and D.D.F. was supported by the basic funding programme of the Ioffe Institute number FFUG-2024-0002. The radio data processing was conducted using China SKA Regional Center compute system. The Australia Telescope Compact Array is part of the Australia Telescope National Facility which is funded by the Australian Government for operation as a National Facility managed by CSIRO. This research has made use of the Common Astronomy Software Applications (CASA). T. An acknowledges the support of the Xinjiang Tianchi Talent Program. T. An and Y.-Q.L. are supported by the National SKA Program of China grant numbers 2022SKA0130103 and FAST special funding (NSFC 12041301).

Data Availability

The light curves and spectra of EP-WXT and EP-FXT and the spectroscopic data are available at https://github.com/huisungh/EP240414a.git. The light curves of Swift-BAT GRBs are public and can be found at https://www.swift.ac.uk/burst_analyser.

Code Availability

Upon reasonable request, the code (mostly in Python) used to produce the results and figures will be provided.

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