The Close Stellar Companions to Intermediate-Mass Black Holes

MacLeod, Morgan; Trenti, Michele; Ramírez-Ruiz, E.

doi:10.3847/0004-637x/819/1/70

Cited by 88 publications

(115 citation statements)

References 166 publications

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“…Fig. 5 in MacLeod et al 2016a). Unfortunately, the distances to the sources responsible for these fast X-ray flares are in most cases not well constrained as no redshift information is available.…”

Section: Fast X-ray Candidatesmentioning

confidence: 97%

Tidal Disruptions of White Dwarfs: Theoretical Models and Observational Prospects

et al. 2020

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White dwarf stars that enter the tidal radius of black holes with masses < ∼ 10 5 M are doomed to be ripped apart by tidal forces. Black holes in this mass range between stellar black holes and supermassive black holes have not been conclusively identified so the detection of a tidal disruption of a white dwarf would provide clear evidence for the existence of intermediatemass black holes. In this review, we present a theoretical and observational overview of the transient events that result from the tidal disruptions of white dwarfs by intermediate-mass black holes. This includes discussion of the latest simulations and predicted properties, the results of observational searches, as well as a summary of the potential for gravitational wave emission to be detected with upcoming missions.

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Section: Fast X-ray Candidatesmentioning

confidence: 97%

Tidal Disruptions of White Dwarfs: Theoretical Models and Observational Prospects

et al. 2020

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“…However, there can be several complicating effects-such as secular relaxation, or the presence of a triaxial potential, rings or disks of stars, and/or a second massive body-and there is a lack of understanding of their relative importance in local galaxies. In addition, we need to better understand the mass spectrum of disrupted stars, in particular given mass segregation (e.g., MacLeod et al 2016b).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-mass White Dwarfs with Hydrogen Envelopes as a Missing Link in the Tidal Disruption Menu

Law-Smith

MacLeod

Guillochon

et al. 2017

ApJ

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We construct a menu of objects that can give rise to bright flares when disrupted by massive black holes (BHs), ranging from planets to evolved stars. Through their tidal disruption, main sequence and evolved stars can effectively probe the existence of otherwise quiescent supermassive BHs and white dwarfs can probe intermediate mass BHs. Many low-mass white dwarfs possess extended hydrogen envelopes, which allow for the production of prompt flares in disruptive encounters with moderately massive BHs of 10 5 -10 7 M -masses that may constitute the majority of massive BHs by number. These objects are a missing link in two ways: (1) for probing moderately massive BHs and (2) for understanding the hydrodynamics of the disruption of objects with tenuous envelopes. A flare arising from the tidal disruption of a 0.17 M white dwarf by a 10 5 M BH reaches a maximum between 0.6 and 11 days, with a peak fallback rate that is usually super-Eddington and results in a flare that is likely brighter than a typical tidal disruption event. Encounters stripping only the envelope can provide hydrogen-only fallback, while encounters disrupting the core evolve from H-to He-rich fallback. While most tidal disruption candidates observed thus far are consistent with the disruptions of main sequence stars, the rapid timescales of nuclear transients such as Dougie and PTF10iya are naturally explained by the disruption of low-mass white dwarfs. As the number of observed flares continues to increase, the menu presented here will be essential for characterizing nuclear BHs and their environments through tidal disruptions.

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“…Although these only contribute at~1%, they should still be considered for any dynamically complete treatment. We also assume that GCs do not contain intermediate-mass BHs that can influence the BBH formation and merger rate (e.g., MacLeod et al 2016).…”

Section: Appendix a Monte Carlo Simulations Of Gcsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamical Formation of the Gw150914 Binary Black Hole

Rodriguez

Haster

Chatterjee

et al. 2016

ApJL

226

176

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We explore the possibility that GW150914, the binary black hole (BBH) merger recently detected by Advanced LIGO, was formed by gravitational interactions in the core of a dense star cluster. Using models of globular clusters (GCs) with detailed N-body dynamics and stellar evolution, we show that a typical cluster with a mass ofis optimal for forming GW150914-like BBHs that will merge in the local universe. We identify the most likely dynamical processes for forming GW150914 in such a cluster, and we show that the detection of GW150914 is consistent with the masses and merger rates expected for BBHs from GCs. Our results show that dynamical processes provide a significant and well-understood pathway for forming BBH mergers in the local universe. Understanding the contribution of dynamics to the BBH merger problem is a critical step in unlocking the full potential of gravitational-wave astronomy.

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The Close Stellar Companions to Intermediate-Mass Black Holes

Cited by 88 publications

References 166 publications

Tidal Disruptions of White Dwarfs: Theoretical Models and Observational Prospects

Tidal Disruptions of White Dwarfs: Theoretical Models and Observational Prospects

Low-mass White Dwarfs with Hydrogen Envelopes as a Missing Link in the Tidal Disruption Menu

Dynamical Formation of the Gw150914 Binary Black Hole

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