Micro - tidal disruption events by stellar compact objects and the production of ultra-long GRBs

TL;DR

This paper investigates micro-tidal disruption events caused by stellar compact objects, proposing their potential to produce ultra-long gamma-ray bursts and estimating their occurrence rates through various astrophysical scenarios.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of micro-TDEs by stellar compact objects and explores their potential to generate ultra-long GRBs, providing rate estimates for different disruption mechanisms.

Findings

Micro-TDEs can produce energetic long-duration X-ray/Gamma-ray flares.

Estimated rates of micro-TDEs vary from a few times 10^{-6} to 10^{-7} per year per galaxy.

Different dynamical scenarios lead to distinct rates and observational signatures.

Abstract

We explore full/partial tidal disruption events (TDEs) of stars/planets by stellar compact objects (Black holes; BHs; or neutron stars; NSs), which we term micro-TDEs. Disruption of a star/planet with mass $M_{\star}$ may lead to the formation of a debris disk around the BH/NS. Efficient accretion of a fraction $(f_{acc}=0.1$ of the debris may then give rise to bright energetic long ($10^{3}-10^{4}\,s$), X-ray/Gamma-ray flares, with total energies of up to $(f_{acc}/0.1)\times10^{52}\,(M_{\star}/{0.6\,M_{\odot}})\,$ergs, possibly resembling ultra-long GRBs/XRFs. The energy of such flares depends on the poorly constrained accretion processes. Significantly fainter flares might be produced if most of the disk mass is blown away through strong outflows. We suggest three dynamical origins for such disruptions. In the first, a star/planet is tidally disrupted following a close random encounter with a BH/NS in a dense cluster. We estimate the BH (NS) micro-TDE rates from this scenario to be few$\times10^{-6}$ (few$\times10^{-7}$) ${\rm yr}^{-1}$ per Milky-Way galaxy. Another scenario involves the interaction of wide companions due to perturbations by stars in the field, likely producing comparable but lower rates. Finally, a third scenario involves a BH/NS which gain a natal velocity kick at birth, leading to a close encounter with a binary companion and the tidal disruption of that companion. Such events could be associated with a supernova, or even with a preceding GRB/XRF event, and would likely occur hours to days after the prompt explosion; the rates of such events could be larger than those obtained from the other scenarios, depending on the preceding complex binary stellar evolution.