paper

Implications from Late-Time X-ray Detections of Optically Selected Tidal Disruption Events: State Changes, Unification, and Detection Rates

arXiv:1906.12236 · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab659c

Abstract

We present Chandra X-ray observations of four optically-selected tidal disruption events (TDEs) obtained 4-9 years after discovery. Three sources were detected with luminosities between 9X10^40 and 3X10^42 erg/s. The spectrum of PTF09axc is consistent with a power law of index 2.5+-0.1, whereas the spectrum of PTF09ge is very soft. The power law spectrum of PTF09axc and prior literature findings, provide evidence that TDEs transition from an early-time soft state to a late-time hard state many years after disruption. We propose that the time to peak luminosity for optical and X-ray emission may differ substantially in TDEs, with X-rays being produced or becoming observable later. This delay helps explain the differences in observed properties such as L_opt/L_ X of optically and X-ray selected TDEs. We update TDE rate predictions for the eROSITA instrument: it ranges from 3 per yr to 990 per yr, depending sensitively on the distribution of black hole spins and the time delay between disruption and peak X-ray brightness. We further predict an asymmetry in the number of retrograde and prograde disks in samples of optically and X-ray selected TDEs. The details of the observational biases can contribute to observed differences between optically and X-ray selected TDEs (with optically selected TDEs being fainter in X-rays for retrograde TDE disks).

arXiv commentAccepted for publication to ApJ, 18 pages, 4 figures

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