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1. The Eccentric Nature of Eccentric Tidal Disruption Events

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac32be  

   Cufari, M.; Coughlin, Eric R.; Nixon, C. J. (January 2022, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract Upon entering the tidal sphere of a supermassive black hole, a star is ripped apart by tides and transformed into a stream of debris. The ultimate fate of that debris, and the properties of the bright flare that is produced and observed, depends on a number of parameters, including the energy of the center of mass of the original star. Here we present the results of a set of smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations in which a 1 M ⊙ , γ = 5/3 polytrope is disrupted by a 10 6 M ⊙ supermassive black hole. Each simulation has a pericenter distance of r p = r t (i.e., β ≡ r t / r p = 1 with r t the tidal radius), and we vary the eccentricity e of the stellar orbit from e = 0.8 up to e = 1.20 and study the nature of the fallback of debris onto the black hole and the long-term fate of the unbound material. For simulations with eccentricities e ≲ 0.98, the fallback curve has a distinct, three-peak structure that is induced by self-gravity. For simulations with eccentricities e ≳ 1.06, the core of the disrupted star reforms following its initial disruption. Our results have implications for, e.g., tidal disruption events produced by supermassive black hole binaries. 

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2. Stellar Revival and Repeated Flares in Deeply Plunging Tidal Disruption Events

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ac5118  

   Nixon, C. J.; Coughlin, Eric R. (March 2022, The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   Abstract Tidal disruption events with tidal radius r t and pericenter distance r p are characterized by the quantity β = r t / r p , and “deep encounters” have β ≫ 1. It has been assumed that there is a critical β ≡ β c ∼ 1 that differentiates between partial and full disruption: for β < β c a fraction of the star survives the tidal interaction with the black hole, while for β > β c the star is completely destroyed, and hence all deep encounters should be full. Here we show that this assumption is incorrect by providing an example of a β = 16 encounter between a γ = 5/3, solar-like polytrope and a 10 6 M ⊙ black hole—for which previous investigations have found β c ≃ 0.9—that results in the reformation of a stellar core post-disruption that comprises approximately 25% of the original stellar mass. We propose that the core reforms under self-gravity, which remains important because of the compression of the gas both near pericenter, where the compression occurs out of the orbital plane, and substantially after pericenter, where compression is within the plane. We find that the core forms on a bound orbit about the black hole, and we discuss the corresponding implications of our findings in the context of recently observed, repeating nuclear transients. 

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3. Electron Heating in the Transrelativistic Perpendicular Shocks of Tilted Accretion Flows

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad4607  

   Sironi, Lorenzo; Tran, Aaron (June 2024, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract General relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations of black hole tilted disks—where the angular momentum of the accretion flow at large distances is misaligned with respect to the black hole spin—commonly display standing shocks within a few to tens of gravitational radii from the black hole. In GRMHD simulations of geometrically thick, optically thin accretion flows, applicable to low-luminosity sources like Sgr A* and M87*, the shocks have transrelativistic speed, moderate plasma beta (the ratio of ion thermal pressure to magnetic pressure isβ_pi1∼ 1–8), and low sonic Mach number (the ratio of shock speed to sound speed isM_s∼ 1–6). We study such shocks with 2D particle-in-cell simulations, and we quantify the efficiency and mechanisms of electron heating for the special case of preshock magnetic fields perpendicular to the shock direction of propagation. We find that the postshock electron temperatureT_e2exceeds the adiabatic expectationT_e2,adby an amount $T_{\mathrm{e}2}/T_{\mathrm{e}2,\mathrm{ad}}-1\simeq 0.0016M_s^{3.6}$, nearly independent of the plasma beta and of the preshock electron-to-ion temperature ratioT_e1/T_i1, which we vary from 0.1 to unity. We investigate the heating physics forM_s∼ 5–6 and find that electron superadiabatic heating is governed by magnetic pumping atT_e1/T_i1= 1, whereas heating byB-parallel electric fields (i.e., parallel to the local magnetic field) dominates atT_e1/T_i1= 0.1. Our results provide physically motivated subgrid prescriptions for electron heating at the collisionless shocks seen in GRMHD simulations of black hole accretion flows. 

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4. Stars Crushed by Black Holes. II. A Physical Model of Adiabatic Compression and Shock Formation in Tidal Disruption Events

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac3fb9  

   Coughlin, Eric R.; Nixon, C. J. (February 2022, The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract We develop a Newtonian model of a deep tidal disruption event (TDE), for which the pericenter distance of the star,r_p, is well within the tidal radius of the black hole,r_t, i.e., whenβ≡r_t/r_p≫ 1. We find that shocks form forβ≳ 3, but they are weak (with Mach numbers ∼1) for allβ, and that they reach the center of the star prior to the time of maximum adiabatic compression forβ≳ 10. The maximum density and temperature reached during the TDE follow much shallower relations withβthan the previously predicted ${\rho }_{\max }\propto {\beta }^3$and $T_{\max }\propto {\beta }^2$scalings. Belowβ≃ 10, this shallower dependence occurs because the pressure gradient is dynamically significant before the pressure is comparable to the ram pressure of the free-falling gas, while aboveβ≃ 10, we find that shocks prematurely halt the compression and yield the scalings ${\rho }_{\max }\propto {\beta }^{1.62}$and $T_{\max }\propto {\beta }^{1.12}$. We find excellent agreement between our results and high-resolution simulations. Our results demonstrate that, in the Newtonian limit, the compression experienced by the star is completely independent of the mass of the black hole. We discuss our results in the context of existing (affine) models, polytropic versus non-polytropic stars, and general relativistic effects, which become important when the pericenter of the star nears the direct capture radius, atβ∼ 12.5 (2.7) for a solar-like star disrupted by a 10⁶M_⊙(10⁷M_⊙) supermassive black hole. 

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5. Extremely Relativistic Tidal Disruption Events

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acc390  

   Ryu, Taeho; Krolik, Julian; Piran, Tsvi (March 2023, The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   Abstract 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. 

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