2023/03/22 by Chengcheng Xin, Zoltán Haiman, Xin, Chengcheng +7 · 3 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · Veterinary · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Mechanics and Biomechanics Studies #Veterinary Equine Medical Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2303.12846
openalex publication_date 2023/03/22 · openalex created_date 2023/03/25 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Close encounters between stellar-mass black holes (BHs) and stars occur frequently in dense star clusters and in the disks of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Recent studies have shown that in highly eccentric close encounters, the star can be tidally disrupted by the BH (micro-tidal disruption event, or micro-TDE), resulting in rapid mass accretion and possibly bright electromagnetic signatures. Here we consider a scenario in which the star might approach the stellar-mass BH in a gradual, nearly circular inspiral, under the influence of dynamical friction on a circum-binary gas disk or three-body interactions in a star cluster. We perform hydro-dynamical simulations of this scenario using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics code PHANTOM. We find that the mass of the star is slowly stripped away by the BH. We call this gradual tidal disruption a "tidal-peeling event", or a TPE. Depending on the initial distance and eccentricity of the encounter, TPEs might exhibit significant accretion rates and orbital evolution distinct from those of a typical (eccentric) micro-TDE.