Tidal disruption events unveiled: understanding their long-term accretion with Chandra and HST
Abstract
Tidal disruption events (TDEs) provide a unique laboratory for studying supermassive black holes. Shortly after disruption, most TDEs are 'veiled': emitting mainly UV/optical while X-ray signs of accretion are obscured. However by >~3 years, the stellar debris should settle into a thin, unobscured disk, brightest in X-rays and UV. We propose to observe 3 very nearby and well-studied TDEs at late phases using Chandra and HST. Only previous 1 TDE (and no veiled TDEs) have high S/N X-ray data at late times. Covering the SED peak with X-ray+UV reveals (1) the evolution of the accretion rate, and whether embedded accretion powered the optical flare; (2) the dominant energy release mechanism in the disk; and (3) fundamental disk parameters such as masses and possibly spin.
- Publication:
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Chandra Proposal
- Pub Date:
- September 2022
- Bibcode:
- 2022cxo..prop.6371N
- Keywords:
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- Chandra Proposal ID #24700299