Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T01:15:29.940Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Observational Progress in Identifying and Characterizing Tidal Disruption Flares

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2017

S. Bradley Cenko
S. Bradley Cenko*
Affiliation:
Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Mail Code 661, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

I present an overview of observational efforts across the electromagnetic spectrum to identify and study tidal disruption flares (TDFs), when a star wanders too close to a super-massive black hole and is torn apart by tidal forces. In particular I will focus on four unexpected surprises that challenge the most basic analytic picture of these events: 1) large inferred radii for the optical/UV-emitting material; 2) the ubiquity of outflows, detected at radio, X-ray, and UV wavelengths, ranging from speeds of 100 km/s to near the speed of light; 3) the peculiar atomic abundances observed in the UV and optical spectra of these objects; and, 4) the preference for these events to occur in post-starburst galaxies.

Keywords

accretionblack hole physics
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 12 , Symposium S324: New Frontiers in Black Hole Astrophysics , September 2016 , pp. 93 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2017 

References

Alexander, K. D., Berger, E., Guillochon, J., Zauderer, B. A., & Williams, P. K. G. 2016, ApJL, 819, L25 Google Scholar
Arcavi, I., et al. 2014, ApJ, 793, 38 Google Scholar
Bloom, J. S., et al. 2011, Science, 333, 203 Google Scholar
Bower, G. C., Metzger, B. D., Cenko, S. B., Silverman, J. M., & Bloom, J. S. 2013, ApJ, 763, 84 Google Scholar
Brown, G. C., Levan, A. J., Stanway, E. R., Tanvir, N. R., Cenko, S. B., Berger, E., Chornock, R., & Cucchiaria, A. 2015, MNRAS, 452, 4297 Google Scholar
Burrows, D. N., et al. 2011, Nature, 476, 421 Google Scholar
Cenko, S. B., et al. 2016, ApJL, 818, L32 Google Scholar
Cenko, S. B., et al. 2012, ApJ, 753, 77 Google Scholar
Chornock, R., et al. 2014, ApJ, 780, 44 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Colle, F., Guillochon, J., Naiman, J., & Ramirez-Ruiz, E. 2012, ApJ, 760, 103 Google Scholar
Evans, C. R. & Kochanek, C. S. 1989, ApJL, 346, L13 Google Scholar
Ferrarese, L. & Merritt, D. 2000, ApJL, 539, L9 Google Scholar
French, K. D., Arcavi, I., & Zabludoff, A. 2016, ApJL, 818, L21 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gebhardt, K., et al. 2000, ApJL, 539, L13 Google Scholar
Gezari, S., et al. 2012, Nature, 485, 217 Google Scholar
Guillochon, J., Manukian, H., & Ramirez-Ruiz, E. 2014, ApJ, 783, 23 Google Scholar
Hills, J. G. 1975, Nature, 254, 295 Google Scholar
Holoien, T. W.-S., et al. 2016, MNRAS, 455, 2918 Google Scholar
Irwin, J. A., Henriksen, R. N., Krause, M., Wang, Q. D., Wiegert, T., Murphy, E. J., Heald, G., & Perlman, E. 2015, ApJ, 809, 172 Google Scholar
Ivezic, Z., et al. 2008, arXiv e-print (astro-ph/0805.2366)Google Scholar
Kaiser, N., et al. 2010, in Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference Series, Vol. 7733, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) Conference SeriesGoogle Scholar
Khabibullin, I., Sazonov, S., & Sunyaev, R. 2014, MNRAS, 437, 327 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kochanek, C. S. 2016, MNRAS, 458, 127 Google Scholar
Komossa, S. 2015, Journal of High Energy Astrophysics, 7, 148 Google Scholar
Krolik, J., Piran, T., Svirski, G., & Cheng, R. M. 2016, ApJ, 827, 127 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Law, N. M., et al. 2009, PASP, 121, 1395 Google Scholar
Levan, A. J., et al. 2011, Science, 333, 199 Google Scholar
Lodato, G. & Rossi, E. M. 2011, MNRAS, 410, 359 Google Scholar
Miller, J. M., et al. 2015, Nature, 526, 542 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osterbrock, D. E. 1989, Astrophysics of gaseous nebulae and active galactic nucleiCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phinney, E. S. 1989, in IAU Symposium, Vol. 136, The Center of the Galaxy, ed. Morris, M., 543Google Scholar
Piran, T., Svirski, G., Krolik, J., Cheng, R. M., & Shiokawa, H. 2015, ApJ, 806, 164 Google Scholar
Rau, A., et al. 2009, PASP, 121, 1334 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rees, M. J. 1988, Nature, 333, 523 Google Scholar
Roth, N., Kasen, D., Guillochon, J., & Ramirez-Ruiz, E. 2016, ApJ, 827, 3 Google Scholar
Shappee, B. J., et al. 2014, ApJ, 788, 48 Google Scholar
Shiokawa, H., Krolik, J. H., Cheng, R. M., Piran, T., & Noble, S. C. 2015, ApJ, 804, 85 Google Scholar
Strubbe, L. E. & Murray, N. 2015, MNRAS, 454, 2321 Google Scholar
Strubbe, L. E. & Quataert, E. 2009, MNRAS, 400, 2070 Google Scholar
Ulmer, A. 1999, ApJ, 514, 180 Google Scholar
van Velzen, S., et al. 2016, Science, 351, 62 Google Scholar
van Velzen, S., Frail, D. A., Körding, E., & Falcke, H. 2013, AAP, 552, A5 Google Scholar
Zauderer, B. A., et al. 2011, Nature, 476, 425 CrossRefGoogle Scholar