A Host Galaxy Morphology Link between Quasiperiodic Eruptions and Tidal Disruption Events
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract The physical processes that produce X-ray quasiperiodic eruptions (QPEs) recently discovered from the nuclei of several low-redshift galaxies are mysterious. Several pieces of observational evidence strongly suggest a link between QPEs and tidal disruption events (TDEs). Previous studies also reveal that the morphologies of TDE host galaxies are highly concentrated, with high Sérsic indices, bulge-to-total-light ratios, and stellar surface mass densities relative to the broader galaxy population. We use these distinctive properties to test the link between QPEs and TDEs by comparing these parameters of QPE host galaxies to TDE host galaxies. We employ archival Legacy Survey images of a sample of 9 QPE host galaxies and a sample of 13 TDE host galaxies and model their surface brightness profiles. We show that QPE host galaxies have high Sérsic indices of ∼3, high bulge-to-total-light ratios of ∼0.5, and high surface mass densities of ∼10 10 M ⊙ kpc −2 . These properties are similar to TDE host galaxies but are in strong contrast to a mass- and redshift-matched control sample of galaxies. We also find tentative evidence that the central black holes in both QPE and TDE host galaxies are undermassive relative to their stellar mass. The morphological similarities between QPE and TDE host galaxies at the population level add to the mounting evidence of a physical link between these phenomena and favor QPE models that also invoke TDEs.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".