Radio Emission from Tidal Disruption Events Produced by the Collision between Super-Eddington Outflows and the Circumnuclear Medium

In this Letter, we simulate the collision between outflows from the tidal disruption of a 1 M _⊙ main-sequence star around a 10 ^6 M _⊙ black hole and an initially spherically symmetric circumnuclear cloud. We launch super-Eddington outflows self-consistently by simulating the disruption of stars on...

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Main Authors: Fangyi (Fitz) Hu, Adelle Goodwin, Daniel J. Price, Ilya Mandel, Re’em Sari, Kimitake Hayasaki
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal Letters
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adeb79
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author Fangyi (Fitz) Hu
Adelle Goodwin
Daniel J. Price
Ilya Mandel
Re’em Sari
Kimitake Hayasaki
author_facet Fangyi (Fitz) Hu
Adelle Goodwin
Daniel J. Price
Ilya Mandel
Re’em Sari
Kimitake Hayasaki
author_sort Fangyi (Fitz) Hu
collection DOAJ
description In this Letter, we simulate the collision between outflows from the tidal disruption of a 1 M _⊙ main-sequence star around a 10 ^6 M _⊙ black hole and an initially spherically symmetric circumnuclear cloud. We launch super-Eddington outflows self-consistently by simulating the disruption of stars on both bound and unbound initial orbits using general relativistic smoothed particle hydrodynamics. We find that shocks formed as early as ∼10 days after the initial stellar disruption produce prompt radio emission. The shock radius (≈10 ^17 cm), velocity (∼0.15 c ), and total energy (∼10 ^51 erg) in our simulations match those inferred from radio observations of tidal disruption events (TDEs). We ray-trace to produce synthetic radio images and spectra to compare with the observations. While the TDE outflow is quasi-spherical, the synchrotron emitting region is aspherical but with reflection symmetry above and below the initial orbital plane. Our synthetic spectra show a continuous decay in peak frequency, matching prompt radio TDE observations. Our model supports the hypothesis that synchrotron radio flares from TDEs result from the collision between outflows and the circumnuclear material.
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issn 2041-8205
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series The Astrophysical Journal Letters
spelling doaj-art-3eaa63b30dc24bb791a08149785c46572025-08-20T03:28:00ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052025-01-019881L2410.3847/2041-8213/adeb79Radio Emission from Tidal Disruption Events Produced by the Collision between Super-Eddington Outflows and the Circumnuclear MediumFangyi (Fitz) Hu0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7984-9477Adelle Goodwin1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3441-8299Daniel J. Price2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4716-4235Ilya Mandel3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6134-8946Re’em Sari4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1084-3656Kimitake Hayasaki5https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4799-1895School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University , Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia ; fangyi.hu@monash.edu; OzGrav: The ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery , AustraliaInternational Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Curtin University , Perth, WA 6845, AustraliaSchool of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University , Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia ; fangyi.hu@monash.eduSchool of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University , Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia ; fangyi.hu@monash.edu; OzGrav: The ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery , AustraliaRacah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem , 9190401, IsraelDepartment of Astronomy and Space Science, Chungbuk National University , Cheongju 361-763, Republic of Korea; Department of Physical Sciences, Aoyama Gakuin University , Sagamihara 252-5258, JapanIn this Letter, we simulate the collision between outflows from the tidal disruption of a 1 M _⊙ main-sequence star around a 10 ^6 M _⊙ black hole and an initially spherically symmetric circumnuclear cloud. We launch super-Eddington outflows self-consistently by simulating the disruption of stars on both bound and unbound initial orbits using general relativistic smoothed particle hydrodynamics. We find that shocks formed as early as ∼10 days after the initial stellar disruption produce prompt radio emission. The shock radius (≈10 ^17 cm), velocity (∼0.15 c ), and total energy (∼10 ^51 erg) in our simulations match those inferred from radio observations of tidal disruption events (TDEs). We ray-trace to produce synthetic radio images and spectra to compare with the observations. While the TDE outflow is quasi-spherical, the synchrotron emitting region is aspherical but with reflection symmetry above and below the initial orbital plane. Our synthetic spectra show a continuous decay in peak frequency, matching prompt radio TDE observations. Our model supports the hypothesis that synchrotron radio flares from TDEs result from the collision between outflows and the circumnuclear material.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adeb79Supermassive black holesTidal disruptionRadio transient sourcesRadiative transferInterstellar synchrotron emissionHydrodynamical simulations
spellingShingle Fangyi (Fitz) Hu
Adelle Goodwin
Daniel J. Price
Ilya Mandel
Re’em Sari
Kimitake Hayasaki
Radio Emission from Tidal Disruption Events Produced by the Collision between Super-Eddington Outflows and the Circumnuclear Medium
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Supermassive black holes
Tidal disruption
Radio transient sources
Radiative transfer
Interstellar synchrotron emission
Hydrodynamical simulations
title Radio Emission from Tidal Disruption Events Produced by the Collision between Super-Eddington Outflows and the Circumnuclear Medium
title_full Radio Emission from Tidal Disruption Events Produced by the Collision between Super-Eddington Outflows and the Circumnuclear Medium
title_fullStr Radio Emission from Tidal Disruption Events Produced by the Collision between Super-Eddington Outflows and the Circumnuclear Medium
title_full_unstemmed Radio Emission from Tidal Disruption Events Produced by the Collision between Super-Eddington Outflows and the Circumnuclear Medium
title_short Radio Emission from Tidal Disruption Events Produced by the Collision between Super-Eddington Outflows and the Circumnuclear Medium
title_sort radio emission from tidal disruption events produced by the collision between super eddington outflows and the circumnuclear medium
topic Supermassive black holes
Tidal disruption
Radio transient sources
Radiative transfer
Interstellar synchrotron emission
Hydrodynamical simulations
url https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adeb79
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