Detection of disk-jet coprecession in a tidal disruption event.

Wang, Yanan, Lin, Zikun, Wu, Linhui, Lei, Wei-Hua, Wei, Shuyuan, Zhang, Shuang-Nan, Ji, Long, Del Palacio, Santiago, Baldi, Ranieri D, Huang, Yang, Liu, Ji-Feng, Zhang, Bing, Yang, Aiyuan, Chen, Ru-Rong, Zhang, Yangwei, Wang, Ai-Ling, Yang, Lei, Charalampopoulos, Panos, Williams-Baldwin, David R A, Yao, Zhu-Heng, Xie, Fu-Guo, Bu, Defu, Feng, Hua, Cao, Xinwu, Wu, Hongzhou, Li, Wenxiong, Qiao, Erlin, Leloudas, Giorgos, Anderson, Joseph P, Shu, Xinwen, Pasham, Dheeraj R, Zou, Hu, Nicholl, Matt, Wevers, Thomas, Müller-Bravo, Tomás E, Wang, Jing, Wei, Jian-Yan, Qiu, Yu-Lei, Guo, Wei-Jian, Gutiérrez, Claudia P, Gromadzki, Mariusz, Inserra, Cosimo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3968-4409, Makrygianni, Lydia, Onori, Francesca, Petrushevska, Tanja, Altamirano, Diego, Galbany, Lluís, Peréz-Torres, Miguel and Chen, Ting-Wan 2025. Detection of disk-jet coprecession in a tidal disruption event. Science Advances 11 (50) , eady9068. 10.1126/sciadv.ady9068

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Abstract

Theories and simulations predict that intense space-time curvature near black holes bends the trajectories of light and matter, driving disk and jet precession under relativistic torques. However, direct observational evidence of disk-jet coprecession remains elusive. Here, we report the most compelling case to date: a tidal disruption event (TDE) exhibiting unprecedented 19.6-day quasi-periodic variations in both x-rays and radio, with x-ray amplitudes exceeding an order of magnitude. The nearly synchronized x-ray and radio variations suggest a shared mechanism regulating the emission regions. We demonstrate that a disk-jet Lense-Thirring precession model successfully reproduces these variations while requiring a low-spin black hole. This study uncovers previously uncharted short-term radio variability in TDEs, highlights the transformative potential of high-cadence radio monitoring, and offers profound insights into disk-jet physics.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Physics and Astronomy
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: Title: cc by-nc, Type: cc by-nc
Publisher:	American Association for the Advancement of Science
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	18 December 2025
Date of Acceptance:	22 October 2025
Last Modified:	18 Dec 2025 11:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/183351

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