TY - JOUR
T1 - Simulated optical light curves of super-Eddington tidal disruption events with ZEBRA flows
AU - Eyles-Ferris, R. A.J.
AU - Starling, R. L.C.
AU - O'brien, P. T.
AU - Nixon, C. J.
AU - Coughlin, Eric R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.
PY - 2022/12/1
Y1 - 2022/12/1
N2 - We present simulated optical light curves of super-Eddington tidal disruption events (TDEs) using the ZEro-BeRnoulli Accretion (ZEBRA) flow model, which proposes that during the super-Eddington phase, the disc is quasi-spherical, radiation-pressure dominated, and accompanied by the production of strong jets. We construct light curves for both on- and off-axis (with respect to the jet) observers to account for the anisotropic nature of the jetted emission. We find that at optical wavelengths, emission from the accretion flow is orders of magnitude brighter than that produced by the jet, even with boosting from synchrotron self-Compton. Comparing to the observed jetted TDE Swift J2058.4+0516, we find that the ZEBRA model accurately captures the time-scale for which accretion remains super-Eddington and reproduces the luminosity of the transient. However, we find the shape of the light curves deviate at early times and the radius and temperature of our modelled ZEBRA are ∼2.7-4.1 times smaller and ∼1.4-2.3 times larger, respectively, than observed. We suggest that this indicates the ZEBRA inflates more, and more rapidly, than currently predicted by the model, and we discuss possible extensions to the model to account for this. Such refinements, coupled with valuable new data from upcoming large-scale surveys, could help to resolve the nature of super-Eddington TDEs and how they are powered.
AB - We present simulated optical light curves of super-Eddington tidal disruption events (TDEs) using the ZEro-BeRnoulli Accretion (ZEBRA) flow model, which proposes that during the super-Eddington phase, the disc is quasi-spherical, radiation-pressure dominated, and accompanied by the production of strong jets. We construct light curves for both on- and off-axis (with respect to the jet) observers to account for the anisotropic nature of the jetted emission. We find that at optical wavelengths, emission from the accretion flow is orders of magnitude brighter than that produced by the jet, even with boosting from synchrotron self-Compton. Comparing to the observed jetted TDE Swift J2058.4+0516, we find that the ZEBRA model accurately captures the time-scale for which accretion remains super-Eddington and reproduces the luminosity of the transient. However, we find the shape of the light curves deviate at early times and the radius and temperature of our modelled ZEBRA are ∼2.7-4.1 times smaller and ∼1.4-2.3 times larger, respectively, than observed. We suggest that this indicates the ZEBRA inflates more, and more rapidly, than currently predicted by the model, and we discuss possible extensions to the model to account for this. Such refinements, coupled with valuable new data from upcoming large-scale surveys, could help to resolve the nature of super-Eddington TDEs and how they are powered.
KW - accretion, accretion discs
KW - black hole physics
KW - transients: tidal disruption events
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U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stac3073
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stac3073
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85145349024
SN - 0035-8711
VL - 517
SP - 6013
EP - 6021
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
IS - 4
ER -