Extremely Relativistic Tidal Disruption Events
Extreme tidal disruption events (eTDEs), which occur when a star passes very close to a supermassive black hole, may provide a way to observe a long-sought general relativistic effect: orbits that wind several times around a black hole and then leave. Through general relativistic hydrodynamics simul...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acc390 |
| _version_ | 1797697200195633152 |
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| author | Taeho Ryu Julian Krolik Tsvi Piran |
| author_facet | Taeho Ryu Julian Krolik Tsvi Piran |
| author_sort | Taeho Ryu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Extreme tidal disruption events (eTDEs), which occur when a star passes very close to a supermassive black hole, may provide a way to observe a long-sought general relativistic effect: orbits that wind several times around a black hole and then leave. Through general relativistic hydrodynamics simulations, we show that such eTDEs are easily distinguished from most tidal disruptions, in which stars come close, but not so close, to the black hole. Following the stellar orbit, the debris is initially distributed in a crescent, it then turns into a set of tight spirals circling the black hole, which merge into a shell expanding radially outwards. Some mass later falls back toward the black hole, while the remainder is ejected. Internal shocks within the infalling debris power the observed emission. The resulting lightcurve rises rapidly to roughly the Eddington luminosity, maintains this level for between a few weeks and a year (depending on both the stellar mass and the black hole mass), and then drops. Most of its power is in thermal X-rays at a temperature ∼(1–2) × 10 ^6 K (∼100–200 eV). The debris evolution and observational features of eTDEs are qualitatively different from ordinary TDEs, making eTDEs a new type of TDE. Although eTDEs are relatively rare for lower-mass black holes, most tidal disruptions around higher-mass black holes are extreme. Their detection offers a view of an exotic relativistic phenomenon previously inaccessible. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:36:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8d7e36e075a14b4c8483d757362f8a09 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2041-8205 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:36:53Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-8d7e36e075a14b4c8483d757362f8a092023-09-03T13:08:56ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052023-01-019462L3310.3847/2041-8213/acc390Extremely Relativistic Tidal Disruption EventsTaeho Ryu0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2012-5217Julian Krolik1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2995-7717Tsvi Piran2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7964-5420The Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics , Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, Garching, D-85748, Germany ; tryu@mpa-garching.mpg.de; Physics and Astronomy Department, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USAPhysics and Astronomy Department, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, MD 21218, USARacah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University , Jerusalem 91904, IsraelExtreme tidal disruption events (eTDEs), which occur when a star passes very close to a supermassive black hole, may provide a way to observe a long-sought general relativistic effect: orbits that wind several times around a black hole and then leave. Through general relativistic hydrodynamics simulations, we show that such eTDEs are easily distinguished from most tidal disruptions, in which stars come close, but not so close, to the black hole. Following the stellar orbit, the debris is initially distributed in a crescent, it then turns into a set of tight spirals circling the black hole, which merge into a shell expanding radially outwards. Some mass later falls back toward the black hole, while the remainder is ejected. Internal shocks within the infalling debris power the observed emission. The resulting lightcurve rises rapidly to roughly the Eddington luminosity, maintains this level for between a few weeks and a year (depending on both the stellar mass and the black hole mass), and then drops. Most of its power is in thermal X-rays at a temperature ∼(1–2) × 10 ^6 K (∼100–200 eV). The debris evolution and observational features of eTDEs are qualitatively different from ordinary TDEs, making eTDEs a new type of TDE. Although eTDEs are relatively rare for lower-mass black holes, most tidal disruptions around higher-mass black holes are extreme. Their detection offers a view of an exotic relativistic phenomenon previously inaccessible.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acc390Tidal disruptionSupermassive black holesHydrodynamicsGeneral relativityGravitation |
| spellingShingle | Taeho Ryu Julian Krolik Tsvi Piran Extremely Relativistic Tidal Disruption Events The Astrophysical Journal Letters Tidal disruption Supermassive black holes Hydrodynamics General relativity Gravitation |
| title | Extremely Relativistic Tidal Disruption Events |
| title_full | Extremely Relativistic Tidal Disruption Events |
| title_fullStr | Extremely Relativistic Tidal Disruption Events |
| title_full_unstemmed | Extremely Relativistic Tidal Disruption Events |
| title_short | Extremely Relativistic Tidal Disruption Events |
| title_sort | extremely relativistic tidal disruption events |
| topic | Tidal disruption Supermassive black holes Hydrodynamics General relativity Gravitation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acc390 |
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