Double tidal disruption events with supermassive black hole binaries

AbstractOptical transient surveys have led to the discovery of dozens of stellar tidal disruption events (TDEs) by massive black hole in the centers of galaxies. Despite extensive searches, X-ray follow-up observations have produced no or only weak X-ray detections in most of them. Here we report the discovery of delayed X-ray brightening around 140 days after the optical outburst in the TDE OGLE16aaa, followed by several flux dips during the decay phase. These properties are unusual for standard TDEs and could be explained by the presence of supermassive black hole binary or patchy obscuration. In either scenario, the X-rays can be produced promptly after the disruption but are blocked in the early phase, possibly by a radiation-dominated ejecta which leads to the bulk of optical and ultraviolet emission. Our findings imply that the reprocessing is important in the TDE early evolution, and X-ray observations are promising in revealing supermassive black hole binaries.

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INTERRUPTION OF TIDAL-DISRUPTION FLARES BY SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE BINARIES

The Astrophysical Journal ◽

10.1088/0004-637x/706/1/l133 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 706 (1) ◽

pp. L133-L137 ◽

Cited By ~ 51

Author(s):

F. K. Liu ◽

S. Li ◽

Xian Chen

Keyword(s):

Black Hole ◽

Tidal Disruption ◽

Black Hole Binaries ◽

Supermassive Black Hole

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Tidal disruption as a probe for supermassive black hole binaries

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921315007449 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (S312) ◽

pp. 43-47

Author(s):

Shuo Li ◽

Fukun Liu ◽

Peter Berczik ◽

Rainer Spurzem

Keyword(s):

Black Holes ◽

Black Hole ◽

Galactic Center ◽

Galaxy Mergers ◽

Tidal Disruption ◽

Black Hole Binaries ◽

Supermassive Black Hole ◽

Before And After ◽

Many Core ◽

Disruption Event

AbstractSupermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) are the products of frequent galaxy mergers. It is very hard to be detected in quiescent galaxy. By using one million particle direct N-body simulations on special many-core hardware (GPU cluster), we study the dynamical co-evolution of SMBHB and its surrounding stars, specially focusing on the evolution of stellar tidal disruption event (TDE) rates before and after the coalescence of the SMBHB. We find a boosted TDE rate during the merger of the galaxies. After the coalescence of two supermassive black holes (SMBHs), the post-merger SMBH can get a kick velocity due to the anisotropic GW radiations. Our results about the recoiling SMBH, which oscillates around galactic center, show that most of TDEs are contributed by unbound stars when the SMBH passing through galactic center. In addition, the TDE light curve in SMBHB system is significantly different from the curve for single SMBH, which can be used to identify the SMBHB.

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