The Influence of Black Hole Binarity on Tidal Disruption Events

TL;DR

This paper reviews how supermassive black hole binaries influence tidal disruption events, affecting their rates, signatures, and detection prospects, which has implications for understanding galaxy evolution.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of how black hole binarity impacts tidal disruption events and their observational signatures.

Findings

Black hole binaries alter TDE rates and signatures.

The presence of a second black hole affects debris fallback.

Detection prospects for binary-induced TDEs are discussed.

Abstract

Mergers are fundamental to the standard paradigm of galaxy evolution, and provide a natural formation mechanism for supermassive black hole binaries. The formation process of such a binary can have a direct impact on the rate at which stars are tidally disrupted by one or the other black hole, and the luminous signature of the tidal disruption itself can have distinct imprints of a binary companion. In this chapter we review our current understanding of the influence of black hole binarity on the properties of tidal disruption events. We discuss the rates of tidal disruption by supermassive black hole binaries, the impact of a second black hole on the fallback of debris and the formation of an accretion flow, and the prospects for detection of tidal disruption events by supermassive black hole binaries.