Review: Accretion Disk Evolution in Tidal Disruption Events
arXiv:2505.07061 · doi:10.1007/978-981-16-4544-0_127-1
Abstract
This is a brief review of the recent progress in understanding the evolution of the accretion disks in tidal disruption events (TDEs). Special attention is paid to (1) thermal-viscous instability that causes the disk to transition from a thick state to a thin one, and back and forth, (2) interactions between the fallback material and existing disk. Challenges to the current model from late-time X-ray observations are highlighted and possible solutions are discussed.
16 pages, 4 figures. This is a chapter in the Handbook of X-ray and Gamma-ray Astrophysics written in 2022 (now posted without change)