EMRI + TDE = QPE: Periodic X-Ray Flares from Star–Disk Collisions in Galactic Nuclei

Roughly half of the quasiperiodic eruption (QPE) sources in galactic nuclei exhibit a remarkably regular alternating “long-short” pattern of recurrence times between consecutive flares. We show that a main-sequence star (brought into the nucleus as an extreme mass-ratio inspiral; EMRI) that passes t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Itai Linial, Brian D. Metzger
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2023-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acf65b