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Collisions with tidal disruption event disks: implications for quasi-periodic X-ray eruptions
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abstract
A popular class of models for interpreting quasi-periodic X-ray eruptions from galactic nuclei (QPEs) invoke collisions between an object on an extreme mass ratio inspiral (EMRI) and an accretion disk around a supermassive black hole. There are strong links between QPE systems and those disks which formed following a tidal disruption event (TDE), and at least two events (AT2019qiz and AT2022upj) are known to have occurred following an otherwise typical TDE. We show that the fact that these disks were formed following a TDE strongly constrains their properties, more so than previous models have assumed. Models based on steady-state AGN-like disks have mass contents which grow strongly with size $M_{\rm disk}\propto R_{\rm out}^{7/2}$ and do not conserve the mass or angular momentum of the disrupted star. A very different scaling must be satisfied by a TDE disk in order to conserve the disrupted stars angular momentum, $M_{\rm disk} \propto R_{\rm out}^{-1/2}$. These constraints substantially change the predicted scaling relationships between QPE observables (luminosity, duration, energy, temperature) and the QPE period. They also allow QPE observables to be written in terms of the properties of the two stars assumed to be involved (the one tidally disrupted and the one on an EMRI), making plausibility tests of these models possible. We show that these modifications to the disk structure imply that (i) QPEs cannot be powered by collisions between an orbiting black hole and a TDE disk, (ii) QPEs also cannot be powered by collisions between the surface of a stellar EMRI and a TDE disk. A framework in which the collisions are between a TDE disk and a star which has puffed up to fill its Hills sphere with a trailing debris stream (as seen in recent simulations) cannot be ruled out from the data, and should be the focus of further study.
Forward citations
Cited by 6 Pith papers
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Triple radio flares from tidal disruption events: jet-wind collisions and the discovery of a third radio flare from AT2020vwl
The TDE AT2020vwl showed a third radio flare at the time a jet-wind collision was predicted from its first two flares, the first predicted-and-confirmed third flare.
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Star-Disk Collisions II: Debris Stream Dynamics and Implications for QPEs and Other Transients Near SMBHs
Tidal debris streams from star–disk collisions produce QPE-like flare durations and energetics with a near-constant ~10–20% duty cycle, favoring one observable flare per orbit.
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Radiation-hydrodynamics of star-disc collisions for quasi-periodic eruptions
A 3D radiation-hydrodynamics simulation of a star–disc collision produces a forward outflow about twice as luminous as the backward outflow, naturally reproducing the strong–weak flare pattern observed in several QPEs.
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Prospects for EMRI/MBH parameter estimation using Quasi-Periodic Eruption timings: short-timescale analysis
QPE arrival times from an EMRI-disk collision model can recover black hole mass and orbital size/eccentricity to about 10% over tens of orbits, while spin and disk precession properties are much harder to constrain.
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Multimessenger prospects of quasi-periodic eruptions
Known quasi-periodic eruptions are unlikely to have LISA-detectable gravitational-wave counterparts, so future searches should focus on rare short-period “golden” QPEs.
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Observations of X-ray quasi-periodic eruptions
X-ray observations of the 13 known QPE sources show a coherent class of thermal eruptions on compact disks, with host galaxies and rates pointing to a tidal disruption event connection.
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