OPTICAL TRANSIENTS FROM THE UNBOUND DEBRIS OF TIDAL DISRUPTION

Journal Article · Sat May 01 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/714/1/155· OSTI ID:21448939

Kasen, Daniel; Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico ^[1]

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1. University of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)

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 losses over significant expansion factors. The opacity also drops dramatically with recombination, and the internal energy can be radiated by means of a cooling-transparency wave propagating from the surface layers inward. The result is a brief optical transient occurring {approx} 1 week after disruption and lasting 3-5 days with peak luminosities of 10{sup 40}-10{sup 42} ergs s{sup -1}, depending on the mass of the disrupted star. These recombination powered transients should accompany the X-ray/ultraviolet flare from the accretion of bound material, and so may be a useful signature for discriminating tidal disruption events, especially for lower and intermediate mass black holes.

• OSTI ID: 21448939
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 714; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
BLACK HOLES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY TRANSFER
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDROGEN
LUMINOSITY
NONMETALS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIANT HEAT TRANSFER
RADIATIONS
RECOMBINATION
STARS
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION