Quantifying the impact of relativistic precession on tidal disruption event light curves

Abstract

The tidal field of a black hole can turn a star into a gas stream whose orbit can precess, especially if the a black hole is rapidly spinning. In this work, we investigate the impact of precession on the light curves of tidal disruption events (TDE). To do so, we perform two-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of the interaction of the TDE wind and luminosity with the precessed stream wrapped around the black hole. Our results show that in events with black holes of $\sim 10^6{\text{M}}_{\odot }$ and no orbit-spin inclination, the line of sight has little effect on the light curves, since the stream covers a small fraction of the solid angle as the precession is confined to the orbital plane. In the case of black holes of $\gtrsim 10^7{\text{M}}_{\odot }$ and high inclination ($i\sim 90^{\circ }$), the light curve peaks can be delayed by $\sim$100 days due to presence of the precessed stream blocking the radiation in the early phase of the event. We also discuss our efforts to model self-consistently the hydrodynamic evolution of a tidal stellar stream on curved spacetimes by the presence of a massive black hole.

arXiv comment7 pages and 4 figures. Proceedings of "X-ray Quasi-Periodic Eruptions and Repeating Nuclear Transients", 16-19 June 2025, ESAC, Madrid. Accepted for publication in Astronomische Nachrichten

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