Optical-Ultraviolet Tidal Disruption Events
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Optical-Ultraviolet Tidal Disruption Events Sjoert van Velzen1,2 · Thomas W.-S. Holoien3 · Francesca Onori4 · Tiara Hung5 · Iair Arcavi6,7
Received: 25 April 2020 / Accepted: 13 October 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract The existence of optical-ultraviolet Tidal Disruption Events (TDEs) could be considered surprising because their electromagnetic output was originally predicted to be dominated by X-ray emission from an accretion disk. Yet over the last decade, the growth of optical transient surveys has led to the identification of a new class of optical transients occurring exclusively in galaxy centers, many of which are considered to be TDEs. Here we review the observed properties of these events, identified based on a shared set of both photometric and spectroscopic properties. We present a homogeneous analysis of 33 sources that we classify as robust TDEs, and which we divide into classes. The criteria used here to classify TDEs will possibly get updated as new samples are collected and potential additional diversity of TDEs is revealed. We also summarize current measurements of the optical-ultraviolet TDE rate, as well as the mass function and luminosity function. Many open questions exist regarding the current sample of events. We anticipate that the search for answers will unlock new insights in a variety of fields, from accretion physics to galaxy evolution.
The Tidal Disruption of Stars by Massive Black Holes Edited by Peter G. Jonker, Sterl Phinney, Elena Maria Rossi, Sjoert van Velzen, Iair Arcavi and Maurizio Falanga
B I. Arcavi
[email protected]
1
Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
2
Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
3
The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science, 813 Santa Barbara St., Pasadena, CA 91101, USA
4
Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali (INAF), via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, Roma, 00133, Italy
5
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, CA 95064, USA
6
The School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
7
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars program, CIFAR, Toronto, Canada
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Keywords Tidal disruption events: optical · Tidal disruption events: ultraviolet, Bowen fluorescence
1 Introduction The first predictions for TDE observables considered direct emission from an accretion disk. Therefore, it was expected that TDEs be seen mainly in the X-rays. Indeed, the first TDEs were detected during the ROSAT all sky survey as luminous, soft X-ray flares from the nuclei of otherwise quiescent galaxies (Bade et al. 1996; Komossa and Greiner 1999; Grupe et al. 1999; Greiner et al. 2000). Subsequently, similar X-ray events were discovered through dedicated searches or serendipitous discoveries with Chandra and XMM-Newton (Esquej et al. 2007, 2008; Lin et al. 2011; Saxton et al. 2012). Swift has been extremely useful in providing rapid follo
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