Tidal disruption events
When a star passes too close to a giant black hole, tidal forces tear it apart and part of it falls in, producing a flare that lasts months. Where the light comes from and why less energy than expected comes out are still debated.
Why it matters
These flares reveal otherwise dormant black holes and show how gas falls onto them.
Review
S. Gezari, Tidal Disruption Events, Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2021. https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.14580 reference checked
Timestamp record
- Signed record
- f6e463881470…
- Public log
- Entry 59, in checkpoint 2,123
- In the log by
- Block 969,698, 2026-10-03
This text was in the PubPhys log by that date. The date says nothing about when the problem was first posed.