Quasi-Periodic Flares from Star-Accretion Disc Collisions

TL;DR

This paper models quasi-periodic flares caused by star-disc collisions near supermassive black holes, exploring how these signals reveal black hole properties and comparing simulations with observed astrophysical flares.

Contribution

It provides simulated analysis of star-disc collision-induced flares and assesses their potential to determine black hole parameters and test general relativity.

Findings

Quasi-periodic signals depend on black hole mass, spin, and stellar orbit.

Simulations match observed optical and X-ray flares in specific astrophysical sources.

Potential to extract black hole characteristics from flare observations.

Abstract

We present simulated results of quasi-periodic flares generated by the inelastic collisions of a star bound to a super-massive black hole (SMBH) and its attendant accretion disc. We show that the behavior of the quasi-periodicity is affected by the mass and spin of the black hole and the orbital elements of the stellar orbit. We also evaluate the possibility of extracting useful information on these parameters and verifying the character of the Kerr metric from such quasi-periodic signals. Comparisons are made with the observed optical outbursts of OJ287, infrared flares from the Galactic center and X-ray variability in RE J1034+396.