Reverberation Evidence for Stream Collision and Delayed Disk Formation in Tidal Disruption Events
When a star passes through the tidal disruption radius of a massive black hole (BH), it can be torn apart by the tidal force of the BH, known as the tidal disruption event (TDE). Since the observed UV/optical luminosity significantly exceeds the predictions of the compact disk model in classical TDE...
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2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada274 |
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| author | Hengxiao Guo Jingbo Sun Shuangliang Li Yan-Fei Jiang Tinggui Wang Defu Bu Ning Jiang Yanan Wang Yuhan Yao Rongfeng Shen Minfeng Gu Mouyuan Sun |
| author_facet | Hengxiao Guo Jingbo Sun Shuangliang Li Yan-Fei Jiang Tinggui Wang Defu Bu Ning Jiang Yanan Wang Yuhan Yao Rongfeng Shen Minfeng Gu Mouyuan Sun |
| author_sort | Hengxiao Guo |
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| description | When a star passes through the tidal disruption radius of a massive black hole (BH), it can be torn apart by the tidal force of the BH, known as the tidal disruption event (TDE). Since the observed UV/optical luminosity significantly exceeds the predictions of the compact disk model in classical TDE theory, two competing models, stream collision and envelope reprocessing, have been proposed to address this discrepancy. To distinguish between these models, we investigated the continuum reverberation behaviors for ~30 TDEs with high-quality multiband light curves. We found that over half of them exhibit a positive lag by a few days in UV/optical bands, indicating that their inferred sizes are significantly larger than the envelope sizes in reprocessing. Moreover, X-ray emissions are not only significantly delayed relative to the primary UV/optical peak but also lag behind the rebrightening bump by up to several tens of days, completely different from the X-ray illumination reprocessing. Additionally, the anticorrelated UV−optical continuum in ASASSN-15lh further disfavors the reprocessing scenario. In contrast, the model of stream collisions, combined with delayed accretion disk formation, can provide a unified explanation for the diverse TDE observations, e.g., the optical/X-ray population and the frequently observed rebrightening bump. This model describes a unification scheme wherein the UV/optical emission originates from stream collisions during the early stage of TDE evolution and gradually transitions to being dominated by a accretion disk with detectable X-ray emission in the late stage. After transitioning to a quiescent state, recurrent flares may be observed in some cases, possibly related to repeating partial TDEs. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Kabale University |
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| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
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| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-15057aed5387486785317eb0e26d51662025-01-29T14:25:10ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01979223510.3847/1538-4357/ada274Reverberation Evidence for Stream Collision and Delayed Disk Formation in Tidal Disruption EventsHengxiao Guo0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8416-7059Jingbo Sun1Shuangliang Li2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7299-4513Yan-Fei Jiang3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2624-3399Tinggui Wang4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1517-6792Defu Bu5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0427-520XNing Jiang6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7152-3621Yanan Wang7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3207-5237Yuhan Yao8https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6747-8509Rongfeng Shen9https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5012-2362Minfeng Gu10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4455-6946Mouyuan Sun11https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0771-2153Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030, People’s Republic of China ; hengxiaoguo@gmail.com, sunjingbo@shao.ac.cn; SHAO-XMU Joint Center for Astrophysics , Xiamen, Fujian 361005, People’s Republic of ChinaShanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030, People’s Republic of China ; hengxiaoguo@gmail.com, sunjingbo@shao.ac.cn; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , 19A Yuquan Road, 100049 Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaShanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030, People’s Republic of China ; hengxiaoguo@gmail.com, sunjingbo@shao.ac.cnCenter for Computational Astrophysics , Flatiron Institute, New York, NY 10010, USA ; yjiang@flatironinstitute.orgCAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China; School of Astronomy and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of ChinaShanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030, People’s Republic of China ; hengxiaoguo@gmail.com, sunjingbo@shao.ac.cnCAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China; School of Astronomy and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of ChinaNational Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 20A Datun Road, Beijing 100101, People’s Republic of ChinaMiller Institute for Basic Research in Science , 468 Donner Lab, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA; Department of Astronomy, University of California , Berkeley, CA 94720, USASchool of Physics and Astronomy, Sun Yat-Sen University , Zhuhai 519082, People’s Republic of China; CSST Science Center for the Guangdong-Hongkong-Macau Greater Bay Area, Sun Yat-Sen University , Zhuhai 519082, People’s Republic of ChinaShanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030, People’s Republic of China ; hengxiaoguo@gmail.com, sunjingbo@shao.ac.cnDepartment of Astronomy, Xiamen University , Xiamen, Fujian 361005, People’s Republic of ChinaWhen a star passes through the tidal disruption radius of a massive black hole (BH), it can be torn apart by the tidal force of the BH, known as the tidal disruption event (TDE). Since the observed UV/optical luminosity significantly exceeds the predictions of the compact disk model in classical TDE theory, two competing models, stream collision and envelope reprocessing, have been proposed to address this discrepancy. To distinguish between these models, we investigated the continuum reverberation behaviors for ~30 TDEs with high-quality multiband light curves. We found that over half of them exhibit a positive lag by a few days in UV/optical bands, indicating that their inferred sizes are significantly larger than the envelope sizes in reprocessing. Moreover, X-ray emissions are not only significantly delayed relative to the primary UV/optical peak but also lag behind the rebrightening bump by up to several tens of days, completely different from the X-ray illumination reprocessing. Additionally, the anticorrelated UV−optical continuum in ASASSN-15lh further disfavors the reprocessing scenario. In contrast, the model of stream collisions, combined with delayed accretion disk formation, can provide a unified explanation for the diverse TDE observations, e.g., the optical/X-ray population and the frequently observed rebrightening bump. This model describes a unification scheme wherein the UV/optical emission originates from stream collisions during the early stage of TDE evolution and gradually transitions to being dominated by a accretion disk with detectable X-ray emission in the late stage. After transitioning to a quiescent state, recurrent flares may be observed in some cases, possibly related to repeating partial TDEs.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada274Tidal disruption |
| spellingShingle | Hengxiao Guo Jingbo Sun Shuangliang Li Yan-Fei Jiang Tinggui Wang Defu Bu Ning Jiang Yanan Wang Yuhan Yao Rongfeng Shen Minfeng Gu Mouyuan Sun Reverberation Evidence for Stream Collision and Delayed Disk Formation in Tidal Disruption Events The Astrophysical Journal Tidal disruption |
| title | Reverberation Evidence for Stream Collision and Delayed Disk Formation in Tidal Disruption Events |
| title_full | Reverberation Evidence for Stream Collision and Delayed Disk Formation in Tidal Disruption Events |
| title_fullStr | Reverberation Evidence for Stream Collision and Delayed Disk Formation in Tidal Disruption Events |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reverberation Evidence for Stream Collision and Delayed Disk Formation in Tidal Disruption Events |
| title_short | Reverberation Evidence for Stream Collision and Delayed Disk Formation in Tidal Disruption Events |
| title_sort | reverberation evidence for stream collision and delayed disk formation in tidal disruption events |
| topic | Tidal disruption |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada274 |
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