Circularization of Tidally Disrupted Stars around Spinning Supermassive Black Holes

TL;DR

This study uses 3D simulations to explore how stars disrupted by spinning supermassive black holes form accretion disks, revealing the critical role of radiative cooling and black hole spin in debris circularization.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the effects of radiative cooling and black hole spin on debris circularization in tidal disruption events through detailed simulations.

Findings

Circularization depends on radiative cooling efficiency.

Relativistic precession influences debris self-intersection.

Black hole spin affects circularization timescales.

Abstract

We study the circularization of tidally disrupted stars on bound orbits around spinning supermassive black holes by performing three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulations with Post-Newtonian corrections. Our simulations reveal that debris circularization depends sensitively on the efficiency of radiative cooling. There are two stages in debris circularization if radiative cooling is inefficient: first, the stellar debris streams self-intersect due to relativistic apsidal precession; shocks at the intersection points thermalize orbital energy and the debris forms a geometrically thick, ring-like structure around the black hole. The ring rapidly spreads via viscous diffusion, leading to the formation of a geometrically thick accretion disk. In contrast, if radiative cooling is efficient, the stellar debris circularizes due to self-intersection shocks and forms a geometrically thin ring-like structure. In this case, the dissipated energy can be emitted during debris circularization as a precursor to the subsequent tidal disruption flare. The possible radiated energy is up to ~2*10^{52} erg for a 1 Msun star orbiting a 10^6 Msun black hole. We also find that a retrograde (prograde) black hole spin causes the shock-induced circularization timescale to be shorter (longer) than that of a non-spinning black hole in both cooling cases. The circularization timescale is remarkably long in the radiatively efficient cooling case, and is also sensitive to black hole spin. Specifically, Lense-Thirring torques cause dynamically important nodal precession, which significantly delays debris circularization. On the other hand, nodal precession is too slow to produce observable signatures in the radiatively inefficient case. We also discuss the relationship between our simulations and the parabolic TDEs that are characteristic of most stellar tidal disruptions.