Application of The Wind-Driven Model to A Sample of Tidal Disruption Events

TL;DR

This paper tests the Wind-Driven model on UV/Optical TDEs, deriving physical properties and explaining observed features, including a peculiar transient, by linking outflow origins to the self-interaction radius.

Contribution

It applies the Wind-Driven model to TDEs, connecting wind-launching regions to the self-interaction radius and explaining observed outflows and luminosities.

Findings

Outflows originate near the self-interaction radius.

Mass ejections of over 10 solar masses per year explain TDE luminosities.

AT2018cow likely caused by an intermediate-mass black hole.

Abstract

An origin of the Optical/UV radiation from tidal disruption events (TDEs) has recently been discussed for different scenarios, but observational support is generally missing. In this Letter, we test applicability of the `Wind-Driven model' (Uno & Maeda 2020) to a sample of UV/Optical TDEs. With the model, we aim to derive the physical properties of the Optical/UV TDEs, such as mass-loss rates and characteristic radii. The model assumes optically thick continuous outflows like stellar winds, and one key question is how the wind-launched radius is connected to physical processes in TDEs. As one possibility, through a comparison between the escape velocities estimated from their black-hole masses and the wind velocities estimated from observed line widths, we propose that the outflow is launched from the self-interaction radius ($R_{\rm SI}$) where the stellar debris stretched by the tidal force intersects; we show that the escape velocities at $R_{\rm SI}$ are roughly consistent with the wind velocities. By applying the model to a sample of Optical/UV TDE candidates, we find that explosive mass ejections ($\gtrsim 10 ~M_{\odot}{\rm yr^{-1}}$) from $R_{\rm SI}$ ($\sim 10^{14}{\rm ~cm}$) can explain the observed properties of TDEs around peak luminosity. We also apply the same framework to a peculiar transient, AT2018cow. The model suggests that AT2018cow is likely a TDE induced by an intermediate-mass black hole ($M_{\rm BH} \sim 10^{4}~M_{\odot}$).