The Primary Flare Following a Stellar Collision in a Galactic Nucleus

TL;DR

This paper investigates the primary flare following stellar collisions near supermassive black holes, combining analytic estimates and radiation-hydrodynamics simulations to predict observable signatures similar to tidal disruption events.

Contribution

It introduces the first radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of post-collision stellar gas flows and provides analytic estimates for the properties of the resulting flares.

Findings

Post-collision flares resemble tidal disruption event flares

Analytic estimates depend on collision distance and velocity

Simulations predict observable bolometric light curves

Abstract

High-velocity stellar collisions near supermassive black holes may result in a complete disruption of the stars. The initial disruption can have energies on par with supernovae and power a very fast transient. In this work we examine the primary flare that will follow the initial transient, which arises when streams of gas from the disrupted stars travel around the central black hole and collide with each other on the antipodal side with respect to the original collision. We present a simple analytic estimate for the properties of the flare, which depends on the distance of the collision from the central black hole and on the center of mass velocity of the colliding stars. We also present first of their kind radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of a few examples of stellar collisions and post-collision flow of the ejected gas, and calculate the expected bolometric light curves. We find that such post-collision flares are expected to be similar to flares which arise in tidal disruptions events of single stars.