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Study Confirms Fast X-Ray Transients Arise From Failed Jets in Dying Stars

The latest dataset on EP 250108a/SN 2025kg reveals a direct link between trapped stellar jets and Type Ic broad-lined supernovae.

This image shows the cosmic field in which the fast X-ray transient EP 250108a, and the supernova that followed it, were detected by Einstein Probe (EP) in early 2025. Using a combination of telescopes, including the International Gemini Observatory, funded in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab, and the SOAR telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF NOIRLab, a team of astronomers studied the evolving signal of EP 250108a/SN 2025kg to uncover details about its origin. Their analysis reveals that fast X-ray transients can result from the ‘failed’ explosive death of a massive star. Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA Acknowledgment: PI: J. Rastinejad (Northwestern University) Image processing: J. Miller & M. Rodriguez (International Gemini Observatory/NSF NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab)
Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA
Dying Star's Strangled Jets Solve 50-Year-Old X-Ray Mystery
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Overview

  • Two companion papers published this month offer the most detailed observations to date of EP 250108a/SN 2025kg, confirming that stifled jets in massive star collapse power FXTs.
  • Rapid multi-wavelength follow-up by the Einstein Probe, Gemini South’s FLAMINGOS-2, Gemini North’s GMOS and the SOAR Telescope captured the X-ray flash's transition into a Type Ic broad-lined supernova.
  • Analysis of the event indicates that failed jets are more common in massive star explosions than successful jets that produce gamma-ray bursts.
  • Spectroscopic and infrared data constrain the progenitor of SN 2025kg to a star roughly 15 to 30 times the mass of the sun.
  • Teams are preparing to leverage the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time for systematic detection and study of fast X-ray transients.