Unraveling the Mysteries of Tidal Disruption Events

by Prof. Assaf Horesh

Hebrew University

at Physics Colloquium

Tue, 02 Jul 2024, 15:15
Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science & Technology (51), room 015

Abstract

Tidal Disruption Events (TDEs) are cosmic occurrences where a star is torn apart by the immense gravitational forces of a supermassive black hole. This field is one of the key focus of contemporary astrophysical time-domain research, which offers critical insights into the nature of black holes, the dynamics of stellar destruction, and accretion physics. In my talk I will review our current understating of TDEs, and will address some challenges and pressing questions in the field. I will present new recent discoveries such as the (highly debated) association of neutrinos with TDEs, and my own discovery of delayed radio flares. The latter phenomenon shows that radio emission from TDEs can turn on sometimes months, and even years after stellar disruption. While we identified some possible explanations, the nature of these flares still remains mostly unknown. I will conclude by discussing future avenues in TDE research.

Created on 08-04-2024 by Maniv, Eran (eranmaniv)
Updaded on 26-06-2024 by Maniv, Eran (eranmaniv)