Review: Accretion Disk Evolution in Tidal Disruption Events

TL;DR

This review summarizes recent advances in understanding accretion disk evolution in tidal disruption events, focusing on thermal-viscous instability, fallback interactions, and observational challenges.

Contribution

It provides an overview of current models and discusses recent observational challenges and potential solutions in TDE accretion disk research.

Findings

Thermal-viscous instability causes disk state transitions.

Interactions between fallback material and existing disk are significant.

Late-time X-ray observations challenge current models.

Abstract

This is a brief review of the recent progress in understanding the evolution of the accretion disks in tidal disruption events (TDEs). Special attention is paid to (1) thermal-viscous instability that causes the disk to transition from a thick state to a thin one, and back and forth, (2) interactions between the fallback material and existing disk. Challenges to the current model from late-time X-ray observations are highlighted and possible solutions are discussed.