No Arabic abstract
Recent studies of Tidal Disruption Events (TDEs) have revealed unexpected correlations between the TDE rate and the large-scale properties of the host galaxies. In this review, we present the host galaxy properties of all TDE candidates known to date and quantify their distributions. We consider throughout the differences between observationally-identified types of TDEs and differences from spectroscopic control samples of galaxies. We focus here on the black hole and stellar masses of TDE host galaxies, their star formation histories and stellar populations, the concentration and morphology of the optical light, the presence of AGN activity, and the extra-galactic environment of the TDE hosts. We summarize the state of several possible explanations for the links between the TDE rate and host galaxy type. We present estimates of the TDE rate for different host galaxy types and quantify the degree to which rate enhancement in some types results in rate suppression in others. We discuss the possibilities for using TDE host galaxies to assist in identifying TDEs in upcoming large transient surveys and possibilities for TDE observations to be used to study their host galaxies.
Tidal Disruption Events (TDEs) are transient events observed when a star passes close enough to a supermassive black hole to be tidally destroyed. Many TDE candidates have been discovered in host galaxies whose spectra have weak or no line emission yet strong Balmer line absorption, indicating a period of intense star formation that has recently ended. As such, TDE host galaxies fall into the rare class of quiescent Balmer-strong galaxies. Here, we quantify the fraction of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) with spectral properties like those of TDE hosts, determining the extent to which TDEs are over-represented in such galaxies. Galaxies whose spectra have Balmer absorption H$delta_{rm A}$ $-$ $sigma$(H$delta_{rm A}$) $>$ 4 AA (where $sigma$(H$delta_{rm A}$) is the error in the Lick H$delta_{rm A}$ index) and H$alpha$ emission EW $<$ $3$ AA have had a strong starburst in the last $sim$Gyr. They represent 0.2% of the local galaxy population, yet host 3 of 8 (37.5%) optical/UV-selected TDE candidates. A broader cut, H$delta_{rm A} >$ 1.31 AA and H$alpha$ EW $<$ $3$ AA, nets only 2.3% of SDSS galaxies, but 6 of 8 (75%) optical/UV TDE hosts. Thus, quiescent Balmer-strong galaxies are over-represented among the TDE hosts by a factor of 33-190. The high-energy-selected TDE Swift J1644 also lies in a galaxy with strong Balmer lines and weak H$alpha$ emission, implying a $>80times$ enhancement in such hosts and providing an observational link between the $gamma$/X-ray-bright and optical/UV-bright TDE classes.
A starburst induced by a galaxy merger may create a relatively thin central stellar disk at radius $le 100$pc. We calculate the rate of tidal disruption events (TDEs) by the inspiraling secondary supermassive black (SMBH) through the disk. With a small enough stellar velocity dispersion ($sigma/v_c le 0.1$) in the disk, it is shown that $10^5-10^6$ TDEs of solar-type main sequence stars per post-starburst galaxy (PSB) can be produced to explain their dominance in producing observed TDEs. Although the time it takes to bring the secondary SMBH to the disk apparently varies in the range of $sim 0.1-1$Gyr since the starburst, depending on its landing location and subsequently due to dynamical friction with stars exterior to the central stellar disk in question, the vast majority of TDEs by the secondary SMBH in any individual PSB occurs within a space of time shorter than $sim 30$Myr. Five unique testable predictions of this model are suggested.
Tidal disruption events are an excellent probe for supermassive black holes in distant inactive galaxies because they show bright multi-wavelength flares lasting several months to years. AT2019dsg presents the first potential association with neutrino emission from such an explosive event.
We study the properties of tidal disruption event (TDE) host galaxies in the context of a catalog of ~500,000 galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We explore whether selection effects can account for the overrepresentation of TDEs in E+A/post-starburst galaxies by creating matched galaxy samples. Accounting for possible selection effects due to black hole (BH) mass, redshift completeness, strong AGN presence, bulge colors, and surface brightness can reduce the apparent overrepresentation of TDEs in E+A host galaxies by a factor of ~4 (from ~$times$100-190 to ~$times$25-48), but cannot fully explain the preference. We find that TDE host galaxies have atypical photometric properties compared to similar, typical galaxies. In particular, TDE host galaxies tend to live in or near the green valley between star-forming and passive galaxies, and have bluer bulge colors ($Delta (g-r) approx 0.3$ mag), lower half-light surface brightnesses (by ~1 mag/arcsec$^2$), higher Sersic indices ($Delta n_{rm g} approx 3$), and higher bulge-to-total-light ratios ($Delta B/T approx 0.5$) than galaxies with matched BH masses. We find that TDE host galaxies appear more centrally concentrated and that all have high galaxy Sersic indices and $B/T$ fractions---on average in the top 10% of galaxies of the same BH mass---suggesting a higher nuclear stellar density. We identify a region in Sersic index and BH mass parameter space that contains ~2% of our reference catalog galaxies but $ge!60%$ of TDE host galaxies. The unique photometric properties of TDE host galaxies may be useful for selecting candidate TDEs for spectroscopic follow-up observations in large transient surveys.
Recent claimed detections of tidal disruption events (TDEs) in multi-wavelength data have opened potential new windows into the evolution and properties of otherwise dormant supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the centres of galaxies. At present, there are several dozen TDE candidates, which share some properties and differ in others. The range in properties is broad enough to overlap other transient types, such as active galactic nuclei (AGN) and supernovae (SNe), which can make TDE classification ambiguous. A further complication is that TDE signatures have not been uniformly observed to similar sensitivities or even targeted across all candidates. This chapter reviews those events that are unusual relative to other TDEs, including the possibility of TDEs in pre-existing AGN, and summarises those characteristics thought to best distinguish TDEs from continuously accreting AGN, strongly flaring AGN, SNe, and Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), as well as other potential impostors like stellar collisions, micro-TDEs, and circumbinary accretion flows. We conclude that multiple observables should be used to classify any one event as a TDE. We also consider the TDE candidate population as a whole, which, for certain host galaxy or SMBH characteristics, is distinguishable statistically from non-TDEs, suggesting that at least some TDE candidates do in fact arise from SMBH-disrupted stars.