The Peak of the Fallback Rate from Tidal Disruption Events: Dependence on Stellar Type
A star completely destroyed in a tidal disruption event (TDE) ignites a luminous flare that is powered by the fallback of tidally stripped debris to a supermassive black hole (SMBH) of mass M _• . We analyze two estimates for the peak fallback rate in a TDE, one being the “frozen-in” model, which pr...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2024-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad0388 |
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| author | Ananya Bandopadhyay Julia Fancher Aluel Athian Valentino Indelicato Sarah Kapalanga Angela Kumah Daniel A. Paradiso Matthew Todd Eric R. Coughlin C. J. Nixon |
| author_facet | Ananya Bandopadhyay Julia Fancher Aluel Athian Valentino Indelicato Sarah Kapalanga Angela Kumah Daniel A. Paradiso Matthew Todd Eric R. Coughlin C. J. Nixon |
| author_sort | Ananya Bandopadhyay |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A star completely destroyed in a tidal disruption event (TDE) ignites a luminous flare that is powered by the fallback of tidally stripped debris to a supermassive black hole (SMBH) of mass M _• . We analyze two estimates for the peak fallback rate in a TDE, one being the “frozen-in” model, which predicts a strong dependence of the time to peak fallback rate, t _peak , on both stellar mass and age, with 15 days ≲ t _peak ≲ 10 yr for main sequence stars with masses 0.2 ≤ M _⋆ / M _⊙ ≤ 5 and M _• = 10 ^6 M _⊙ . The second estimate, which postulates that the star is completely destroyed when tides dominate the maximum stellar self-gravity, predicts that t _peak is very weakly dependent on stellar type, with ${t}_{\mathrm{peak}}=\left(23.2\pm 4.0\,{\rm{days}}\right){\left({M}_{\bullet }/{10}^{6}{M}_{\odot }\right)}^{1/2}$ for 0.2 ≤ M _⋆ / M _⊙ ≤ 5, while ${t}_{\mathrm{peak}}\,=\left(29.8\pm 3.6\,{\rm{days}}\right){\left({M}_{\bullet }/{10}^{6}{M}_{\odot }\right)}^{1/2}$ for a Kroupa initial mass function truncated at 1.5 M _⊙ . This second estimate also agrees closely with hydrodynamical simulations, while the frozen-in model is discrepant by orders of magnitude. We conclude that (1) the time to peak luminosity in complete TDEs is almost exclusively determined by SMBH mass, and (2) massive-star TDEs power the largest accretion luminosities. Consequently, (a) decades-long extra-galactic outbursts cannot be powered by complete TDEs, including massive-star disruptions, and (b) the most highly super-Eddington TDEs are powered by the complete disruption of massive stars, which—if responsible for producing jetted TDEs—would explain the rarity of jetted TDEs and their preference for young and star-forming host galaxies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T14:41:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ce924d3412504f758426a89839f6b88e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2041-8205 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T14:41:08Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-ce924d3412504f758426a89839f6b88e2024-01-11T17:04:47ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052024-01-019611L210.3847/2041-8213/ad0388The Peak of the Fallback Rate from Tidal Disruption Events: Dependence on Stellar TypeAnanya Bandopadhyay0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5116-844XJulia Fancher1https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5847-9778Aluel Athian2Valentino Indelicato3Sarah Kapalanga4Angela Kumah5Daniel A. Paradiso6https://orcid.org/0009-0003-8285-0702Matthew Todd7https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3017-2195Eric R. Coughlin8https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3765-6401C. J. Nixon9https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2137-4146Department of Physics, Syracuse University , Syracuse, NY 13210, USA ; abandopa@syr.edu, ecoughli@syr.eduDepartment of Physics, Syracuse University , Syracuse, NY 13210, USA ; abandopa@syr.edu, ecoughli@syr.eduColby College , Waterville, ME 04901, USA; Henninger High School , Syracuse, NY 13206, USANottingham High School , Syracuse, NY 13224, USAUniversity of Rochester , Rochester, NY 14627, USA; Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central High School , Syracuse, NY 13202, USANottingham High School , Syracuse, NY 13224, USA; Dartmouth College , Hanover, NH 03755, USADepartment of Physics, Syracuse University , Syracuse, NY 13210, USA ; abandopa@syr.edu, ecoughli@syr.eduDepartment of Physics, Syracuse University , Syracuse, NY 13210, USA ; abandopa@syr.edu, ecoughli@syr.eduDepartment of Physics, Syracuse University , Syracuse, NY 13210, USA ; abandopa@syr.edu, ecoughli@syr.eduSchool of Physics and Astronomy, Sir William Henry Bragg Building, Woodhouse Ln., University of Leeds , Leeds LS2 9JT, UKA star completely destroyed in a tidal disruption event (TDE) ignites a luminous flare that is powered by the fallback of tidally stripped debris to a supermassive black hole (SMBH) of mass M _• . We analyze two estimates for the peak fallback rate in a TDE, one being the “frozen-in” model, which predicts a strong dependence of the time to peak fallback rate, t _peak , on both stellar mass and age, with 15 days ≲ t _peak ≲ 10 yr for main sequence stars with masses 0.2 ≤ M _⋆ / M _⊙ ≤ 5 and M _• = 10 ^6 M _⊙ . The second estimate, which postulates that the star is completely destroyed when tides dominate the maximum stellar self-gravity, predicts that t _peak is very weakly dependent on stellar type, with ${t}_{\mathrm{peak}}=\left(23.2\pm 4.0\,{\rm{days}}\right){\left({M}_{\bullet }/{10}^{6}{M}_{\odot }\right)}^{1/2}$ for 0.2 ≤ M _⋆ / M _⊙ ≤ 5, while ${t}_{\mathrm{peak}}\,=\left(29.8\pm 3.6\,{\rm{days}}\right){\left({M}_{\bullet }/{10}^{6}{M}_{\odot }\right)}^{1/2}$ for a Kroupa initial mass function truncated at 1.5 M _⊙ . This second estimate also agrees closely with hydrodynamical simulations, while the frozen-in model is discrepant by orders of magnitude. We conclude that (1) the time to peak luminosity in complete TDEs is almost exclusively determined by SMBH mass, and (2) massive-star TDEs power the largest accretion luminosities. Consequently, (a) decades-long extra-galactic outbursts cannot be powered by complete TDEs, including massive-star disruptions, and (b) the most highly super-Eddington TDEs are powered by the complete disruption of massive stars, which—if responsible for producing jetted TDEs—would explain the rarity of jetted TDEs and their preference for young and star-forming host galaxies.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad0388Astrophysical black holesSupermassive black holesBlack hole physicsHydrodynamicsTidal disruption |
| spellingShingle | Ananya Bandopadhyay Julia Fancher Aluel Athian Valentino Indelicato Sarah Kapalanga Angela Kumah Daniel A. Paradiso Matthew Todd Eric R. Coughlin C. J. Nixon The Peak of the Fallback Rate from Tidal Disruption Events: Dependence on Stellar Type The Astrophysical Journal Letters Astrophysical black holes Supermassive black holes Black hole physics Hydrodynamics Tidal disruption |
| title | The Peak of the Fallback Rate from Tidal Disruption Events: Dependence on Stellar Type |
| title_full | The Peak of the Fallback Rate from Tidal Disruption Events: Dependence on Stellar Type |
| title_fullStr | The Peak of the Fallback Rate from Tidal Disruption Events: Dependence on Stellar Type |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Peak of the Fallback Rate from Tidal Disruption Events: Dependence on Stellar Type |
| title_short | The Peak of the Fallback Rate from Tidal Disruption Events: Dependence on Stellar Type |
| title_sort | peak of the fallback rate from tidal disruption events dependence on stellar type |
| topic | Astrophysical black holes Supermassive black holes Black hole physics Hydrodynamics Tidal disruption |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad0388 |
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