GGrantIndex
← Search

X-RAY OBSERVATIONS OF TIDAL DISRUPTIONS EVENTS ARE A UNIQUE PROBE OF THE PHYSICS OF ACCRETION AROUND SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES AS THEY ARE THOUGHT TO START OUT AS SUPER-EDDINGTON ACCRETION FLOWS AND TRANSITION TO THINNER ACCRETION DISCS ON TIMESCALES OF MONTHS/YEARS. XMM-NEWTON HAS BEEN AN INVALUABLE INSTRUMENT FOR MAKING DEEP OBSERVATIONS OF TIDAL DISRUPTION EVENTS AT EARLY TIMES SOON AFTER THEIR DISCOVERY AND HAS REVEALED QUASI-PERIODIC OSCILLATIONS X-RAY REVERBERATION AND IONISED WINDS ALL OF WHICH HAVE HELPED CONSTRAIN THE PHYSICS OF THE SUPER-EDDINGTON PHASE OF ACCRETION. HOWEVER OBSERVATIONS AT LATE TIMES HAVE EITHER BEEN TOO SHORT OR OCCURRED TOO LONG AFTER THE INITIAL FLARE AND THEREFORE WE HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO TRACE THE EVOLUTION OF THE QPOS WINDS ETC. AS THE ACCRETION FLOW CHANGES. IN THIS PROPOSAL WE AIM TO FOLLOW-UP A BRIG~T X-RAY TIDAL DISRUPTION EVENT (WHICH WILL BE WELL-OBSERVED AT ITS PEAK) WITH A DEEP 150 KS OBSERVATION 3 MONTHS AFTER THE INITIAL DISCOVERY REVEALING THE PHYSICS OF HOW DISCS WINDS AND JETS AROUND BLACK HOLES CHANGE WITH ACCRETION RATE. 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED PROGRAMME A) SCIENTIB.C RATIONALE: ROUGHLY ONCE EVERY HUNDRED THOUSAND YEARS A SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE (SMBH) AT THE CENTER OF A GALAXY TIDALLY DISRUPTS AN ORBITJNG STAR (REES 1988 PHINNEY 1989). ABOUT HALF OF THE STELLAR DEBRIS CONTINUES ON ITS ORIGINAL TRAJECTORY WHILE THE OTHER HALF BECOMES GRAVITATIONALLY BOUND AND FALLS BACK TOWARDS THE SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE. THE ACCRETION OF THIS BOUND STELLAR MATERIAL CAUSES A SHORT-LIVED FLARE OF EMISSION KNOWN AS A TIDAL DISRUPTION EVENT (TDE). IF THE CENTRAL SMBH IS LESS THAN 107M0 THE FALLBACK RATE CAN INITIALLY EXCEED THE EDDINGTON LIMIT AND THEN DECAYS OVER TIME WITH A WELL-KNOWN T-5/3 DEPENDENCE.

$56,054FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

View source on USAspending →