Stellar Tidal Disruption Events by Direct Collapse Black Holes

TL;DR

This paper explores the early growth, star formation, and tidal disruption events of direct-collapse black holes in the early universe, predicting observable X-ray and radio signatures from these phenomena.

Contribution

It provides a detailed model of nuclear disk fragmentation, star cluster formation, and tidal disruption events around DCBHs at high redshift, with predictions for observable signals.

Findings

Nuclear accretion disks around DCBHs fragment into massive stars.

Tidal disruption events produce luminous X-ray and radio signals.

Observable signatures could be detected by Swift BAT, eROSITA, eVLA, and JWST.

Abstract

We analyze the early growth stage of direct-collapse black holes (DCBHs) with $\sim 10^{5} \ \rm M_\odot$, which are formed by collapse of supermassive stars in atomic-cooling halos at $z \gtrsim 10$. A nuclear accretion disk around a newborn DCBH is gravitationally unstable and fragments into clumps with a few $10 \ \rm M_\odot$ at $\sim 0.01-0.1 \ \rm pc$ from the center. Such clumps evolve into massive population III stars with a few $10-100 \ \rm M_\odot$ via successive gas accretion and a nuclear star cluster is formed. Radiative and mechanical feedback from an inner slim disk and the star cluster will significantly reduce the gas accretion rate onto the DCBH within $\sim 10^6 \ \rm yr$. Some of the nuclear stars can be scattered onto the loss cone orbits also within $\lesssim 10^6 \ \rm yr$ and tidally disrupted by the central DCBH. The jet luminosity powered by such tidal disruption events can be $L_{\rm j} \gtrsim 10^{50} \ \rm erg \ s^{-1}$. The prompt emission will be observed in X-ray bands with a peak duration of $\delta t_{\rm obs} \sim 10^{5-6} \ (1+z) \ \rm s$ followed by a tail $\propto t_{\rm obs}^{-5/3}$, which can be detectable by Swift BAT and eROSITA even from $z \sim 20$. Follow-up observations of the radio afterglows with, e.g., eVLA and the host halos with JWST could probe the earliest AGN feedback from DCBHs.