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1. Tidal Disruption Event Demographics with the Zwicky Transient Facility: Volumetric Rates, Luminosity Function, and Implications for the Local Black Hole Mass Function

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acf216  

   Yao, Yuhan ; Ravi, Vikram ; Gezari, Suvi ; van Velzen, Sjoert ; Lu, Wenbin ; Schulze, Steve ; Somalwar, Jean J. ; Kulkarni, S. R. ; Hammerstein, Erica ; Nicholl, Matt ; et al ( September 2023 , The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   We conduct a systematic tidal disruption event (TDE) demographics analysis using the largest sample of optically selected TDEs. A flux-limited, spectroscopically complete sample of 33 TDEs is constructed using the Zwicky Transient Facility over 3 yr (from 2018 October to 2021 September). We infer the black hole (BH) mass (M_BH) with host galaxy scaling relations, showing that the sampleM_BHranges from 10^5.1M_⊙to 10^8.2M_⊙. We developed a survey efficiency corrected maximum volume method to infer the rates. The rest-frameg-band luminosity function can be well described by a broken power law of$\varphi (L_g)\propto {\left[{\left(L_g/L_{\mathrm{bk}}\right)}^{0.3}+{\left(L_g/L_{\mathrm{bk}}\right)}^{2.6}\right]}^{-1}$, withL_bk= 10^43.1erg s⁻¹. In the BH mass regime of 10^5.3≲ (M_BH/M_⊙) ≲ 10^7.3, the TDE mass function follows$\varphi (M_{\mathrm{BH}})\propto M_{\mathrm{BH}}^{-0.25}$, which favors a flat local BH mass function (${\mathit{dn}}_{\mathrm{BH}}/d\log M_{\mathrm{BH}}\approx \mathrm{constant}$). We confirm the significant rate suppression at the high-mass end (M_BH≳ 10^7.5M_⊙), which is consistent with theoretical predictions considering direct capture of hydrogen-burning stars by the event horizon. At a host galaxy mass ofM_gal∼ 10¹⁰M_⊙, the average optical TDE rate is ≈3.2 × 10⁻⁵galaxy⁻¹yr⁻¹. We constrain the optical TDE rate to be [3.7, 7.4, and 1.6] × 10⁻⁵galaxy⁻¹yr⁻¹in galaxies with red, green, and blue colors.

    

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2. The Peak of the Fallback Rate from Tidal Disruption Events: Dependence on Stellar Type

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ad0388  

   Bandopadhyay, Ananya ; Fancher, Julia ; Athian, Aluel ; Indelicato, Valentino ; Kapalanga, Sarah ; Kumah, Angela ; Paradiso, Daniel A. ; Todd, Matthew ; Coughlin, Eric R. ; Nixon, C. J. ( January 2024 , The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   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 massM_•. 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 andM_•= 10⁶M_⊙. The second estimate, which postulates that the star is completely destroyed when tides dominate the maximum stellar self-gravity, predicts thatt_peakis very weakly dependent on stellar type, with$t_{\mathrm{peak}}=\left(23.2\pm 4.0\mathrm{days}\right){\left(M_{•}/{10}^6{M}_{\odot }\right)}^{1/2}$for 0.2 ≤M_⋆/M_⊙≤ 5, while$t_{\mathrm{peak}}=\left(29.8\pm 3.6\mathrm{days}\right){\left(M_{•}/{10}^6{M}_{\odot }\right)}^{1/2}$for a Kroupa initial mass function truncated at 1.5M_⊙. 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.

    

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3. Cooling Envelope Model for Tidal Disruption Events

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ac90ba  

   Metzger, Brian D. ( September 2022 , The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   We present a toy model for the thermal optical/UV/X-ray emission from tidal disruption events (TDEs). Motivated by recent hydrodynamical simulations, we assume that the debris streams promptly and rapidly circularize (on the orbital period of the most tightly bound debris), generating a hot quasi-spherical pressure-supported envelope of radiusR_v∼ 10¹⁴cm (photosphere radius ∼10¹⁵cm) surrounding the supermassive black hole (SMBH). As the envelope cools radiatively, it undergoes Kelvin–Helmholtz contractionR_v∝t⁻¹, its temperature risingT_eff∝t^1/2while its total luminosity remains roughly constant; the optical luminosity decays as$\nu L_{\nu }\propto R_v^2{T}_{\mathrm{eff}}\propto t^{-3/2}$. Despite this similarity to the mass fallback rate${\dot{M}}_{\mathrm{fb}}\propto t^{-5/3}$, envelope heating from fallback accretion is subdominant compared to the envelope cooling luminosity except near optical peak (where they are comparable). Envelope contraction can be delayed by energy injection from accretion from the inner envelope onto the SMBH in a regulated manner, leading to a late-time flattening of the optical/X-ray light curves, similar to those observed in some TDEs. Eventually, as the envelope contracts to near the circularization radius, the SMBH accretion rate rises to its maximum, in tandem with the decreasing optical luminosity. This cooling-induced (rather than circularization-induced) delay of up to several hundred days may account for the delayed onset of thermal X-rays, late-time radio flares, and high-energy neutrino generation, observed in some TDEs. We compare the model predictions to recent TDE light-curve correlation studies, finding both agreement and points of tension.

    

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4. On the Impact of Relativistic Gravity on the Rate of Tidal Disruption Events

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac85b3  

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

   The tidal disruption of stars by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) probes relativistic gravity. In the coming decade, the number of observed tidal disruption events (TDEs) will grow by several orders of magnitude, allowing statistical inferences of the properties of the SMBH and stellar populations. Here we analyze the probability distribution functions of the pericenter distances of stars that encounter an SMBH in the Schwarzschild geometry, where the results are completely analytic, and the Kerr metric. From this analysis we calculate the number of observable TDEs, defined to be those that come within the tidal radiusr_tbut outside the direct capture radius (which is, in general, larger than the horizon radius). We find that relativistic effects result in a steep decline in the number of stars that have pericenter distancesr_p≲ 10r_g, wherer_g=GM/c², and that for maximally spinning SMBHs the distribution function ofr_pat such distances scales as$f_{{\mathrm{r}}_{\mathrm{p}}}\propto r_{\mathrm{p}}^{4/3}$, or in terms ofβ≡r_t/r_pscales asf_β∝β^−10/3. We find that spin has little effect on the TDE fraction until the very-high-mass end, where instead of being identically zero the rate is small (≲1% of the expected rate in the absence of relativistic effects). Effectively independent of spin, if the progenitors of TDEs reflect the predominantly low-mass stellar population and thus have masses ≲1M_⊙, we expect a substantial reduction in the rate of TDEs above 10⁷M_⊙.

    

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5. The EDGE-CALIFA Survey: Spatially Resolved 13 CO(1–0) Observations and Variations in 12 CO(1–0)/ 13 CO(1–0) in Nearby Galaxies on Kiloparsec Scales

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/acd840  

   Cao, Yixian ; Wong, Tony ; Bolatto, Alberto D. ; Leroy, Adam K. ; Rosolowsky, Erik ; Utomo, Dyas ; Sánchez, Sebastián F. ; Barrera-Ballesteros, Jorge K. ; Levy, Rebecca C. ; Colombo, Dario ; et al ( August 2023 , The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series)

   We present¹³CO(J= 1 → 0) observations for the EDGE-CALIFA survey, which is a mapping survey of 126 nearby galaxies at a typical spatial resolution of 1.5 kpc. Using detected¹²CO emission as a prior, we detect¹³CO in 41 galaxies via integrated line flux over the entire galaxy and in 30 galaxies via integrated line intensity in resolved synthesized beams. Incorporating our CO observations and optical IFU spectroscopy, we perform a systematic comparison between the line ratio${\mathit{}}_{12/13}\equiv I{[}^{12}\mathrm{CO}(J=1\to 0)]/I{[}^{13}\mathrm{CO}(J=1\to 0)]$and the properties of the stars and ionized gas. Higher${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$values are found in interacting galaxies compared to those in noninteracting galaxies. The global${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$slightly increases with infrared colorF₆₀/F₁₀₀but appears insensitive to other host-galaxy properties such as morphology, stellar mass, or galaxy size. We also present azimuthally averaged${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$profiles for our sample up to a galactocentric radius of 0.4r₂₅(∼6 kpc), taking into account the¹³CO nondetections by spectral stacking. The radial profiles of${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$are quite flat across our sample. Within galactocentric distances of 0.2r₂₅, the azimuthally averaged${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$increases with the star formation rate. However, Spearman rank correlation tests show the azimuthally averaged${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$does not strongly correlate with any other gas or stellar properties in general, especially beyond 0.2r₂₅from the galaxy centers. Our findings suggest that in the complex environments in galaxy disks,${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$is not a sensitive tracer for ISM properties. Dynamical disturbances, like galaxy interactions or the presence of a bar, also have an overall impact on${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$, which further complicates the interpretations of${\mathit{}}_{12/13}$variations.

    

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