Proof correction to the equation in the third paragraph of the DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION has not been carried faithfully to the published version of the paper. The corrected equation should read ≈ 10 -3 M 8 4/3(N*/10 6 pc-3)(σ/300 km s-l)-l(r/rt) yr-1, where Ms is the mass of the SMBH in units of 10 8 M⊙, σ is the virial velocity of the stars, rt is the tidal radius of the SMBH. This estimates the frequency that a star would pass within a sphere with the radius r from the SMBH, rather than the frequency of the tidal disruption event. Therefore, it increases with the mass of the SMBH. However, the loss cone effect should also be taken into account, which reduces the actual event rate. Here, we adopted a factor of one hundred to consider the deficiency from the isotrophic rate. The authors sincerely regret this error.

We have studied the long-term X-ray light curve (2-10 keV) of the luminous Seyfert 1 galaxy MCG-2-58-22 by compiling data, from various X-ray satellites, which together cover more than 20 years. We have found two distinct types of time variations in the light curve. One is a gradual and secular decrease of the X-ray flux, and the other is the episodic increase of X-ray flux (or flare) by a factor of 2-4 compared with the level expected from the secular variation. We detected 3 such flares in total; a representative duration for the flares is ~2 years, with intervening quiescent intervals lasting ~6-8 years. We discuss a few possible origins for these variabilities. Though a standard disk instability theory may explain the displayed time variability in the X-ray light curve, the subsequent accretions of stellar debris, from a tidal disruption event caused by a supermassive black hole in MCG-2-58-22, cannot be ruled out as an alternative explanation.

We report results from an analysis of the X-ray archival data on MCG-2-58-22 obtained with Ginga, ROSAT and ASCA. By analyzing both short- and long-term light curves, we find clear time variations, ranging widely from, ~10 3 s to more than several years, in the X-ray energy range 0.1 - 10 keV. In addition, a flare is detected in 1991, overlaid on a gradual, secular flux decrease from 1979 to 1993; this flare has a time scale of about 1 year, and the X-ray flux increased by at least a factor of 3. The implications of these observational results are discussed in terms of accretion flow dynamics near a supermassive black hole.