A star entering the tidal sphere of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) can be partially stripped of mass, resulting in a partial tidal disruption event (TDE). Here we develop an analytical model for properties of these events, including the peak fallback rate, $\dot{M}_{\rm peak}$, the time at which the peak occurs, $t_{\rm peak}$, and the amount of mass removed from the star, $ΔM$, for any star and any pericenter distance associated with the stellar orbit about the black hole. We compare the model predictions to 1276 hydrodynamical simulations of partial TDEs of main-sequence stars by a $10^6 M_\odot$ SMBH. The model yields $t_{\rm peak}$ predictions that are in good agreement (to within tens of percent) with the numerical simulations for any stellar mass and age. The agreement for $\dot{M}_{\rm peak}$ is weaker due to the influence of self-gravity on the debris stream dynamics, which remains dynamically important for partial TDEs; the agreement for $\dot{M}_{\rm peak}$ is, however, to within a factor of $\sim 2-3$ in the majority of cases considered, with larger differences for low-mass stars ($M_\star \lesssim 0.5 M_\odot$) on grazing orbits with small mass loss. We show that partial TDE lightcurves for disruptions caused by $\sim 10^6M_\odot$ SMBHs can span $\sim 20-100$ day peak timescales, whereas grazing encounters of high-mass stars with high-mass SMBHs can yield longer peak timescales ($t\gtrsim 1000$ days), associated with some observed transients. Our model provides a significant step toward an analytical prescription for TDE lightcurves and luminosity functions.
The disruption of a star by a supermassive black hole generates a sudden bright flare. Previous studies have focused on the disruption by single black holes, for which the fallback rate decays as~$\propto t^{-5/3}$. In this paper, we generalise the study to the case of a supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB), using both analytical estimates and hydrodynamical simulations, looking for specific observable signatures. The range of binary separation for which it is possible to distinguish between the disruption created by a single or a binary black hole concerns typically separations of order a f…
After the tidal disruption of a star by a massive black hole, disrupted stellar debris can fall back to the hole at a rate significantly exceeding its Eddington limit. To understand how black hole mass affects the duration of super-Eddington accretion in tidal disruption events, we first run a suite of simulations of the disruption of a Solar-like star by a supermassive black hole of varying mass to directly measure the fallback rate onto the hole, and we compare these fallback rates to the analytic predictions of the "frozen-in" model. Then, adopting a Zero-Bernoulli Accretion flow as an anal…
The tidal disruption of stars by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) can be used to probe the SMBH mass function, the properties of individual stars, and stellar dynamics in galactic nuclei. Upcoming missions will detect thousands of TDEs, and accurate theoretical modeling is required to interpret the data with precision. Here we analyze the influence of more realistic stellar structure on the outcome of TDEs; in particular, we compare the fallback rates -- being the rate at which tidally-disrupted debris returns to the black hole -- from progenitors generated with the stellar evolution code {\sc…
A tidal disruption event (TDE) occurs when a star plunges through a supermassive black hole's tidal radius, at which point the star's self-gravity is overwhelmed by the tidal gravity of the black hole. In a partial TDE, where the star does not reach the full disruption radius, only a fraction of the star's mass is tidally stripped while the rest remains intact in the form of a surviving core. Analytical arguments have recently suggested that the temporal scaling of the fallback rate of debris to the black hole asymptotes to $t^{-9/4}$ for partial disruptions, effectively independently of the m…
A tidal disruption event (TDE) occurs when a supermassive black hole disrupts a nearby passing star by tidal forces. The subsequent fallback accretion of the stellar debris results in a luminous transient outburst. Modeling the light curve of such an event may reveal important information, for example the mass of the central black hole. This paper presents the TiDE software based on semi-analytic modeling of TDEs. This object-oriented code contains different models for the accretion rate and the fallback timescale $t_{\rm min}$. We compare the resulting accretion rates to each other and with h…
We propose a semi-analytical model for the self-intersection of the fallback stream in tidal disruption events (TDEs). When the initial periapsis is less than about 15 gravitational radii, a large fraction of the shocked gas is unbound in the form of a collision-induced outflow (CIO). This is because large apsidal precession causes the stream to self-intersect near the local escape speed at radius much below the apocenter. The rest of the fallback gas is left in more tightly bound orbits and quickly joins the accretion flow. We propose that the CIO is responsible for reprocessing the hard emis…
We use a simple framework to calculate the time evolution of the composition of the fallback material onto a supermassive black hole arising from the tidal disruption of main sequence stars. We study stars with masses between 0.8 and 3.0 $M_\odot$, at evolutionary stages from zero-age main sequence to terminal-age main sequence, built using the Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics code. We show that most stars develop enhancements in nitrogen ($^{14}$N) and depletions in carbon ($^{12}$C) and oxygen ($^{16}$O) over their lifetimes, and that these features are more pronounced for hig…
The tidal force from a supermassive black hole can rip apart a star that passes close enough in what is known as a Tidal Disruption Event. Typically half of the destroyed star remains bound to the black hole and falls back on highly eccentric orbits, forming an accretion flow which powers a luminous flare. In this paper we use analytical and numerical calculations to explore the effect of stellar rotation on the fallback rate of material. We find that slowly spinning stars ($Ω_* \lesssim 0.01 Ω_{\rm{breakup}}$) provide only a small perturbation to fallback rates found in the non-spinning case.…
General relativistic hydrodynamics of stellar tidal disruptions in Kerr spacetime: methods, validation, and first applications
Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik(马克斯·普朗克天体物理研究所);Hamburger Sternwarte, Universität Hamburg(汉堡天文台,汉堡大学);The Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy, AlbaNova, Stockholm University(奥斯卡·克莱因中心,阿尔巴诺瓦,斯德哥尔摩大学天文学系)
Highly energetic stellar tidal disruption events (TDEs) provide a way to study black hole characteristics and their environment. We simulate TDEs with the PHANTOM code in a general relativistic and Newtonian description of a supermassive black hole's gravity. Stars, which are placed on parabolic orbits with different parameters $β$, are constructed with the stellar evolution code MESA and therefore have realistic stellar density profiles. We study the mass fallback rate of the debris $\dot{M}$ and its dependence on the $β$, stellar mass and age as well as the black hole's spin and the choice o…
We present late-time observations of the tidal disruption event candidate PS1-10jh. UV and optical imaging with HST/WFC3 localize the transient to be coincident with the host galaxy nucleus to an accuracy of 0.023 arcsec, corresponding to 66 pc. The UV flux in the F225W filter, measured 3.35 rest-frame years after the peak of the nuclear flare, is consistent with a decline that continues to follow a $t^{-5/3}$ power-law with no spectral evolution. Late epochs of optical spectroscopy obtained with MMT ~ 2 and 4 years after the peak, enable a clean subtraction of the host galaxy from the early s…
Tidal disruption events (TDEs) show a correlation between the UV to X-ray spectral index and the Eddington ratio, with non-thermal X-ray emission at the low Eddington ratio. We consider the corona surrounding the accretion disc as a non-thermal X-ray source. We construct a time-dependent and non-relativistic advective accretion disc-corona model for TDEs. The infalling debris is assumed to form a seed disc in time $t_c$, that evolves due to the mass gain from the infalling debris at the constant outer radius with a mass fallback rate $\dot{M}_{\rm fb}$ and the mass loss through accretion onto …
We investigate the merger of a neutron star (of compaction ratio $0.1$) in orbit about a spinning black hole in full general relativity with a mass ratio of $5:1$, allowing for the star to have an initial magnetization of $10^{12} {\rm Gauss}$. We present the resulting gravitational waveform and analyze the fallback accretion as the star is disrupted. The evolutions suggest no significant effects from the initial magnetization. We find that only a negligible amount of matter becomes unbound; $99%$ of the neutron star material has a fallback time of 10 seconds or shorter to reach the region of …
We study the mass fallback rate of tidally disrupted stars on marginally bound and unbound orbits around a supermassive black hole (SMBH) by performing three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamic (SPH) simulations with three key parameters: the star is modeled by a polytrope with two different indexes ($n=1.5$ and $3$). The stellar orbital properties are characterized by five orbital eccentricities ranging from $e=0.98$ to $1.02$ and five different penetration factors ranging from $β=1$ to $3$, where $β$ represents the ratio of the tidal disruption to pericenter distance radii. We derive …
Tidal disruption events (TDEs) are among the brightest transients in the optical, ultraviolet, and X-ray sky. These flares are set into motion when a star is torn apart by the tidal field of a massive black hole, triggering a chain of events which is -- so far -- incompletely understood. However, the disruption process has been studied extensively for almost half a century, and unlike the later stages of a TDE, our understanding of the disruption itself is reasonably well converged. In this Chapter, we review both analytical and numerical models for stellar tidal disruption. Starting with rela…
Numerical simulations have historically played a major role in understanding the hydrodynamics of the tidal disruption process. Given the complexity of the geometry of the system, the challenges posed by the problem have indeed stimulated much work on the numerical side. Smoothed Particles Hydrodynamics methods, for example, have seen their very first applications in the context of tidal disruption and still play a major role to this day. Likewise, initial attempts at simulating the evolution of the disrupted star with the so-called affine method have been historically very useful. In this Cha…
A white dwarf (WD) captured into a high-eccentricity orbit around a massive black hole (MBH) may undergo many pericenter passages before tidal disruption. During these passages, the tidal potential of the MBH excites internal oscillations or waves in the WD, and the dissipation of these oscillations can significantly influence the physical properties of the WD prior to its disruption. We calculate the amplitude of the tidally excited gravity (buoyancy) waves in the WD as a function of the pericenter distance and eccentricity for realistic WD models, under the assumption that these outgoing gra…
The tidal disruption of a star by a supermassive black hole provides us with a rare glimpse of these otherwise dormant beasts. It has long been predicted that the disruption will be accompanied by a thermal `flare', powered by the accretion of bound stellar debris. Several candidate disruptions have been discovered in this manner at optical, UV and X-ray wavelengths. Here we explore the observational consequences if a modest fraction of the accretion power is channeled into an ultra-relativistic outflow. We show that a relativistic jet decelerates due to its interaction with the interstellar m…
An ELT system with its large aperture and sensitive optical and near infrared imager spectrographs will make major contributions to the study of stars ripped apart by supermassive black holes.
This is a White Paper in support of the mission concept of the Large Observatory for X-ray Timing (LOFT), proposed as a medium-sized ESA mission. We discuss the potential of LOFT for the study of jetted tidal disruption events. For a summary, we refer to the paper.
We suggest "tidal double detonation": a new mechanism for a thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf (WD) induced by a tidal disruption event (TDE). Tidal detonation is also a WD explosion induced by a TDE. In this case, helium (He) and carbon-oxygen (CO) detonation waves incinerate He~WD and CO~WD, respectively. On the other hand, for tidal double detonation, He detonation is first excited in the He shell of a CO~WD, and drives CO detonation in the CO core. We name this mechanism after the double detonation scenario in the context of type Ia supernovae. In this paper, we show tidal double det…
We present a qualitative picture of prompt emission from tidal disruptions of white dwarfs (WD) by intermediate mass black holes (IMBH). The smaller size of an IMBH compared to a supermassive black hole and a smaller tidal radius of a WD disruption lead to a very fast event with high peak luminosity. Magnetic field is generated in situ following the tidal disruption, which leads to effective accretion. Since large-scale magnetic field is also produced, geometrically thick super-Eddington inflow leads to a relativistic jet. The dense jet possesses a photosphere, which emits quasi-thermal radiat…
We demonstrate that the compact, thick disc formed in a tidal disruption event may be unstable to non-axisymmetric perturbations in the form of the Papaloizou-Pringle instability. We show this can lead to rapid redistribution of angular momentum that can be parameterised in terms of an effective Shakura-Sunyaev $α$ parameter. For remnants that have initially weak magnetic fields, this may be responsible for driving mass accretion prior to the onset of the magneto-rotational instability. For tidal disruptions around a $10^6$ M$_{\odot}$ black hole, the measured accretion rate is super-Eddington…
RBS 1032 is a supersoft ($Γ\sim5$), luminous ($\sim10^{43}$ erg/s) ROSAT PSPC source which has been associated with an inactive dwarf galaxy at $z=0.026$, SDSS J114726.69+494257.8. We have analyzed an XMM-Newton observation which confirms that RBS 1032 is indeed associated with the dwarf galaxy. Moreover, RBS 1032 has undergone a factor of $\sim100-300$ decay since November 1990. This variability suggests that RBS 1032 may not be a steadily accreting intermediate-mass black hole, but rather an accretion flare from the tidal disruption of a star by the central black hole (which may or may not b…
Observations of the spectacular, blazar-like tidal disruption event (TDE) candidates Swift J1644+57 and J2058+05 show that the conditions required for accelerating protons to 10^{20} eV appear to be realized in the outer jet, and possibly in the inner jet as well. Direct and indirect estimates of the rate of jetted-TDEs, and of the energy they inject, are compatible with the observed flux of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and the abundance of presently contributing sources. Thus TDE-jets can be a major source of UHECRs, even compabile with a pure proton composition.
We present simulations of the tidal disruption of a solar mass star by a $10^6M_{\odot}$ black hole. These, for the first time, cover the full time evolution of the tidal disruption event, starting well before the initial encounter and continuing until more than 90% of the bound material has returned to the vicinity of the hole. Our results are compared to the analytical prediction for the rate at which tidally-stripped gas falls back. We find that, for our chosen parameters, the overall scaling of the fallback rate, $\dot{M}_{\rm{fb}}$, closely follows the canonical $t^{-5/3}$ power-law. Howe…
Stars approaching supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the centers of galaxies can be torn apart by strong tidal forces. We study the physics of tidal disruption by a binary SMBH as a function of the binary mass ratio $q = M_2 / M_1$ and separation $a$, exploring a large set of points in the parameter range $q \in [0.01, 1]$ and $a/r_{t1} \in [10, 1000]$. We simulate encounters in which field stars approach the binary from the loss cone on parabolic, low angular momentum orbits. We present the rate of disruption and the orbital properties of the disrupted stars, and examine the fallback dynamic…
Tidal Disruption Events (TDEs) occur when stars pass close to supermassive black holes, and have long been predicted to emit cosmic rays and neutrinos. Recently the TDE AT2109dsg was identified in spatial and temporal coincidence with high-energy neutrino IC191001A as part of the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) neutrino follow-up program, providing the first direct observational evidence supporting these objects as multi-messenger sources. In these proceedings, I will place the recent results of our ZTF neutrino follow-up program into the broader context of developments in TDE and neutrino ast…
The tidal disruption and subsequent accretion of a star by a supermassive black hole can be used as a laboratory to study the physics of relativistic jets. The ngVLA is the only planned instrument that can both discover and characterize a large number of these short-lived radio sources. In particular the high-frequency capabilities of the ngVLA enable this important leap forward. Multi-frequency radio follow-up observations (3 - 100 GHz) of tidal disruption events found in optical or X-ray surveys will provide a measurement of the jet efficiency as a function of black hole spin, thus enabling …
Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can act as black hole assembly lines, funneling some of the stellar-mass black holes from the vicinity of the galactic center into the inner plane of the AGN disk where the black holes can merge through dynamical friction and gravitational wave emission. Here, we show that stars near the galactic center are also brought into the AGN disk, where they can be tidally disrupted by the stellar-mass black holes in the disk. Such micro-tidal disruption events (micro-TDEs) could be useful probe of stellar interaction with the AGN disk. We find that micro-TDEs in AGNs occu…
Beyond the Impulsive Approximation: The Dynamics and Radio Emission of Tidal Disruption Jets
Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México(墨西哥国立自治大学核科学研究所);Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz(加州大学圣克鲁斯分校天体物理学系)
Tidal effects on clumps of material during random non-stationary accretion onto a black hole produce phenomena with distinct temporal characteristics in observed light-curves. During such non-stationary accretion events, the shape of the accreting object evolves in time, and observable quasi-periodic phenomena with variable quasi-periods are produced. A number of characteristic light-curves, obtained with numerical simulations, will be shown. Their relevance to observed phenomena will be briefly discussed.
We present the results of relativistic smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of tidal disruptions of stars by rotating supermassive black holes, for a wide range of impact parameters and black hole spins. For deep encounters, we find that: relativistic precession creates debris geometries impossible to obtain with the Newtonian equations; part of the fluid can be launched on plunging orbits, reducing the fallback rate and the mass of the resulting accretion disc; multiple squeezings and bounces at periapsis may generate distinctive X-ray signatures resulting from the associated shock bre…
The discovery of jets from tidal disruption events (TDEs) rejuvenated the old field of relativistic jets powered by accretion onto supermassive black holes. In this Chapter, we first review the extensive multi-wavelength observations of jetted TDEs. Then, we show that these events provide valuable information on many aspects of jet physics from a new prospective, including the on-and-off switch of jet launching, jet propagation through the ambient medium, $γ/$X-ray radiation mechanism, jet composition, and the multi-messenger picture. Finally, open questions and future prospects in this field …
We present the STARS library, a grid of tidal disruption event (TDE) simulations interpolated to provide the mass fallback rate ($dM/dt$) to the black hole for a main-sequence star of any stellar mass, stellar age, and impact parameter. We use a one-dimensional stellar evolution code to construct stars with accurate stellar structures and chemical abundances, then perform tidal disruption simulations in a three-dimensional adaptive-mesh hydrodynamics code with a Helmholtz equation of state, in unprecedented resolution: from 131 to 524 cells across the diameter of the star. The interpolated lib…
Sun-like stars are thought to be regularly disrupted by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) within galactic nuclei. Yet, as stars evolve off the main sequence their vulnerability to tidal disruption increases drastically as they develop a bifurcated structure consisting of a dense core and a tenuous envelope. Here we present the first hydrodynamic simulations of the tidal disruption of giant stars and show that the core has a substantial influence on the star's ability to survive the encounter. Stars with more massive cores retain large fractions of their envelope mass, even in deep encounters. A…
The process of tidal disruption of stars by a supermassive black hole (SMBH) provides luminous UV and soft X-ray flares with peak luminosities of $\approx 10^{46}$ ergs/sec and duration of a few months. As part of a wider exploration of the effects of stellar rotation on the outcome of a TDE, we have performed hydrodynamical simulations of the disruption of a rotating star whose spin axis is opposite to the orbital axis. Such a retrograde rotation makes the star more resilient to tidal disruption, so that, even if its orbit reaches the formal tidal radius, it actually stays intact after the ti…
A tidal disruption event, which occurs when a star is destroyed by the gravitational field of a supermassive black hole, produces a stream of debris, the evolution of which ultimately determines the observational properties of the event. Here we show that a post-periapsis caustic -- a location where the locus of gas parcels comprising the stream would collapse into a two-dimensional surface if they evolved solely in the gravitational field of the hole -- occurs when the pericenter distance of the star is on the order of the tidal radius of the hole. It is demonstrated that this "pancake" induc…
A highly unusual pair of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) GRB060218 and an associated supernova SN2006aj has puzzled theorists for years. A supernova shock breakout and a jet from a newborn stellar mass compact object were put forward to explain its multiwavelength signature. We propose that the source is naturally explained by another channel, a tidal disruption of a white dwarf (WD) by an intermediate mass black hole (IMBH). The tidal disruption is accompanied by a tidal pinching, which leads to the ignition of a WD and a supernova. Some debris falls back onto the IMBH, forms a disk, which quickly am…
Tidal disruptions are extremely powerful phenomena that have been designated as candidate sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. The disruption of a star by a black hole can naturally provide protons and heavier nuclei, which can be injected and accelerated to ultra-high energies within a jet. Inside the jet, accelerated nuclei are likely to interact with a dense photon field, leading to a significant production of neutrinos and secondary particles. We model numerically the propagation and interactions of high-energy nuclei in jetted tidal disruption events in order to evaluate consistently…
Tidal disruption events occur when a star passes too close to a massive black hole and it is totally ripped apart by tidal forces. It may also happen that the star is not close enough to the black hole to be totally disrupted and a less dramatic event might happen. If the stellar orbit is bound and highly eccentric, just like some stars in the centre of our own Galaxy, repeated flares should occur. When the star approaches the black hole tidal radius at periastron, matter might be stripped resulting in lower intensity outbursts recurring once every orbital period. We report on Swift observatio…
Black holes at the centre of quiescent galaxies can be switched on when they accrete gas that is gained from stellar tidal disruptions. A star approaching a black hole on a low angular momentum orbit may be ripped apart by tidal forces, which triggers raining down of a fraction of stellar debris onto the compact object through an accretion disc and powers a bright flare. In this paper we discuss XMMSL1J063045.9-603110 as a candidate object for a tidal disruption event. The source has recently been detected to be bright in the soft X-rays during an XMM-Newton slew and later showed an X-ray flux…
We present late-time follow-up of the relativistic tidal disruption flare candidate Swift J1112.2-8238. We confirm the previously determined redshift of $z=0.8900\pm0.0005$ based on multiple emission line detections. {\em HST} imaging of the host galaxy indicates a complex and distorted morphology with at least two spatially distinct components. These are offset in velocity space by less than 350\,km\,s$^{-1}$ in VLT/X-Shooter observations, suggesting that the host is undergoing interaction with another galaxy. The transient position is consistent to 2.2$σ$ with the centre of a bulge-like comp…
We explore the temporal structure of tidal disruption events pointing out the corresponding transitions in the lightcurves of the thermal accretion disk and of the jet emerging from such events. The hydrodynamic time scale of the disrupted star is the minimal time scale of building up the accretion disk and the jet and it sets a limit on the rise time. This suggest that Swift J1644+57, that shows several flares with a rise time as short as a few hundred seconds could not have arisen from a tidal disruption of a main sequence star whose hydrodynamic time is a few hours. The disrupted object mus…
In the tidal disruption of a star by a black hole, roughly half of the stellar mass becomes bound and falls into the black hole, while the other half is ejected at high velocity. Several previous studies have considered the emission resulting from the accretion of bound material; we consider the possibility that the unbound debris may also radiate once it has expanded and become transparent. We show that the gradual energy input from hydrogen recombination compensates for adiabatic loses over significant expansion factors. The opacity also drops dramatically with recombination, and the interna…
Tidal capture and repeating partial tidal disruption events of giant stars
Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education(现代天文与天体物理教育部重点实验室);School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University(南京大学天文与空间科学学院)
When a star gets too close to a supermassive black hole, it is torn apart by the tidal forces. Roughly half of the stellar mass becomes unbound and flies away at tremendous velocities - around $10^4$ km/s. In this work we explore the idea that the shock produced by the interaction of the unbound debris with the ambient medium gives rise to the synchrotron radio emission observed in several TDEs. We use a moving mesh numerical simulation to study the evolution of the unbound debris and the bow shock around it. We find that as the periapse distance of the star decreases, the outflow becomes fast…