Simulated optical light curves of super-Eddington tidal disruption events with ZEBRA flows

Abstract

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 timescale 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 $\sim 2.7-4.1$ times smaller and $\sim 1.4-2.3$ 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.

Accepted to MNRAS. 9 pages and 5 figures

References in corpus (14)

• Tidal Disruption Events
• Seventeen Tidal Disruption Events from the First Half of ZTF Survey Observations: Entering a New Era of Population Studies
• Gamma-ray burst progenitors
• Constraints on off-axis jets from stellar tidal disruption flares
• Tidal Disruption Disks Formed and Fed by Stream-Stream and Stream-Disk Interactions in Global GRHD Simulations
• Cooling Envelope Model for Tidal Disruption Events
• Systematic light curve modelling of TDEs: statistical differences between the spectroscopic classes
• Fallback Rates from Partial Tidal Disruption Events
• Simulations of Magnetic Fields in Tidally-Disrupted Stars
• Disc tearing: numerical investigation of warped disc instability
• Stars Crushed by Black Holes. I. On the Energy Distribution of Stellar Debris in Tidal Disruption Events
• Structured, relativistic jets driven by radiation
• Polarimetry of relativistic tidal disruption event Swift J2058+0516
• Linking Extragalactic Transients and their Host Galaxy Properties: Transient Sample, Multi-Wavelength Host Identification, and Database Construction

Cited by in corpus (5)

• A Bright First Day for Tidal Disruption Event
• Linear and circular polarimetry of the optically bright relativistic Tidal Disruption Event AT 2022cmc
• The luminosity function of TDEs from fallback-powered emission: implications for the black hole mass function
• Can GRB 250702B be explained as the tidal disruption of a white dwarf by an intermediate mass black hole? Yes
• Propagation of Precessing Jet in Envelope of Tidal Disruption Events