Yvette Cendes (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
Date: Thu. September 30th, 2021, 4:00 pm-5:00 pmLocation: Rockefeller 301
Tidal Disruption Events: Using A Violent Demise to study Extreme Environments
A Tidal Disruption Event (TDE) occurs when a star wanders too close to a supermassive black hole (SMBH) and is unbound by tidal forces. Studying TDEs can allow us to learn not just about the event itself, but also about the outflows and shockwaves they create and the environment surrounding a previously quiescent black hole. In this talk, I will give an overview of TDE observations, primarily focusing on the radio, and a summary of where the field stands today. I will begin with the case of Swift J1644+57, the best-studied example of a TDE which launched a relativistic jet beamed directly at Earth, and has now evolved into a non-relativistic outflow. I will then highlight the example of a non-relativistic TDE, AT2019dsg, and new radio observations that shed additional light on a claimed neutrino association with this source. Finally, I will summarize the state of TDE radio observations today, which point to two populations of TDE outflows, and how TDE surveys can help us understand this fascinating population going forward.