Morgan MacLeod | Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (original) (raw)

Research by Morgan MacLeod

Papers by Morgan MacLeod

This paper investigates the recent stellar merger transient M31LRN 2015 in the Andromeda galaxy. ... more This paper investigates the recent stellar merger transient M31LRN 2015 in the Andromeda galaxy. We analyze published optical photometry and spectroscopy along with a Hubble Space Telescope detection of the color and magnitude of the pre-outburst source. The transient outburst is consistent with dynamically driven ejecta at the onset of a common envelope episode, which eventually leads to the complete merger of a binary system. The light curve appears to contain two components: first sim10−2Modot\sim10^{-2} M_\odotsim10−2Modot of fast ejecta driven by shocks at the onset of common envelope, and later, sim0.3Modot\sim0.3 M_\odotsim0.3Modot of further ejecta as the secondary becomes more deeply engulfed within the primary. Just prior to merger, we find that the primary star is a 3−5.5Modot3-5.5 M_\odot3−5.5Modot sub-giant branch primary star with radius of 30−40Rodot30-40R_\odot30−40Rodot. Its position in the color-magnitude diagram shows that it is growing in radius, consistent with a picture where it engulfs its companion. By matching the properties of the primary star to the transient outburst, we show that the optical transient lasts less than ten orbits of the original binary, which had a pre-merger period of sim10\sim 10sim10 days.
We consider the possible orbital dynamics leading up to the merger, and argue that if the system merged due to the Darwin tidal instability it implies a lower mass main sequence companion of 0.1−0.6Modot0.1-0.6M_\odot0.1−0.6Modot. This analysis represents a promising step toward a more detailed understanding of flows in common envelope episodes through direct observational constraints.

When embedded in dense cluster cores, intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) acquire close stellar... more When embedded in dense cluster cores, intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) acquire close stellar or stellar-remnant companions. These companions are not only gravitationally bound, they tend to hierarchically isolate from other cluster stars through series of multibody encounters. In this paper, we study the demographics of IMBH companions in compact star clusters through direct N-body simulation. We study clusters initially composed of 10^5 or 2×10^5 stars with IMBHs of 75 and 150 solar masses, and follow their evolution for 6-10 Gyr. A tight innermost binary pair of IMBH and stellar object rapidly forms. The IMBH has a companion with orbital semi-major axis at least three times tighter than the second-most bound object over 90% of the time. These companionships have typical periods of order years and are subject to cycles of exchange and destruction. The most frequently observed, long-lived pairings persist for ∼10^7 yr. The demographics of IMBH companions in clusters are diverse; they include both main sequence, giant stars, and stellar remnants. Companion objects may reveal the presence of an IMBH in a cluster in one of several ways. Most-bound companion stars routinely suffer grazing tidal interactions with the IMBH, offering a dynamical mechanism to produce repeated flaring episodes like those seen in the IMBH candidate HLX-1. Stellar winds of companion stars provide a minimum quiescent accretion rate for IMBHs, with implications for radio searches for IMBH accretion in globular clusters. Finally, gravitational wave inspirals of compact objects are found to occur with promising frequency.

In this paper, we model the observable signatures of tidal disruptions of white dwarf (WD) stars ... more In this paper, we model the observable signatures of tidal disruptions of white dwarf (WD) stars by massive black holes (MBHs) of moderate mass, ≈10^3−10^ 5 M⊙. When the WD passes deep enough within the MBH's tidal field, these signatures include thermonuclear transients from burning during maximum compression. We combine a hydrodynamic simulation that includes nuclear burning of the disruption of a 0.6M⊙ C/O WD with a Monte Carlo radiative transfer calculation to synthesize the properties of a representative transient. The transient's emission emerges in the optical, with lightcurves and spectra reminiscent of type I SNe. The properties are strongly viewing-angle dependent, and key spectral signatures are ≈10,000 km s^−1 Doppler shifts due to the orbital motion of the unbound ejecta. Disruptions of He WDs likely produce large quantities of intermediate-mass elements, offering a possible production mechanism for Ca-rich transients. Accompanying multiwavelength transients are fueled by accretion and arise from the nascent accretion disk and relativistic jet. If MBHs of moderate mass exist with number densities similar to those of supermassive MBHs, both high energy wide-field monitors and upcoming optical surveys should detect tens to hundreds of WD tidal disruptions per year. The current best strategy for their detection may therefore be deep optical follow up of high-energy transients of unusually-long duration. The detection rate or the non-detection of these transients by current and upcoming surveys can thus be used to place meaningful constraints on the extrapolation of the MBH mass function to moderate masses.

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Apr 1, 2015

Investigations of elemental abundances in the ancient and most metal deficient stars are extremel... more Investigations of elemental abundances in the ancient and most metal deficient stars are extremely important because they serve as tests of variable nucleosynthesis pathways and can provide critical inferences of the type of stars that lived and died before them. The presence of r-process elements in a handful of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP-r) stars, which are assumed to be closely connected to the chemical yield from the first stars, is hard to reconcile with standard neutron star mergers. Here we show that the production rate of dynamically assembled compact binaries in high-z nuclear star clusters can attain a sufficient high value to be a potential viable source of heavy r-process material in CEMP-r stars. The predicted frequency of such events in the early Galaxy, much lower than the frequency of Type II supernovae but with significantly higher mass ejected per event, can naturally lead to a high level of scatter of Eu as observed in CEMP-r stars.

This paper models the orbital inspiral of a neutron star (NS) through the envelope of its giant-b... more This paper models the orbital inspiral of a neutron star (NS) through the envelope of its giant-branch companion during a common envelope (CE) episode. These CE episodes are necessary to produce close pairs of NSs that can inspiral and merge due to gravitational wave losses in less than a Hubble time. Because cooling by neutrinos can be very efficient, NSs have been predicted to accumulate significant mass during CE events, perhaps enough to lead them to collapse to black holes. We revisit this conclusion with the additional consideration of CE structure, particularly density gradients across the embedded NS's accretion radius. This work is informed by our recent numerical simulations that find that the presence of a density gradient strongly limits accretion by imposing a net angular momentum to the flow around the NS. Our calculations suggest that NSs should survive CE encounters. They accrete only modest amounts of envelope material, ≲0.1M⊙, which is broadly consistent with mass determinations of double NS binaries. With less mass gain, NSs must spiral deeper to eject their CE, leading to a potential increase in mergers. The survival of NSs in CE events has implications for the formation mechanism of observed double NS binaries, as well as for predicted rates of NS binary gravitational wave inspirals and their electromagnetic counterparts.

This paper examines flows in the immediate vicinity of stars and compact objects dynamically insp... more This paper examines flows in the immediate vicinity of stars and compact objects dynamically inspiralling within a common envelope (CE). These embedded objects spiral to tighter separations because of drag that is generated when gas collides and shocks as it is gravitationally focused. This flow convergence is expected to lead to gas accretion onto the inspiralling object. This process has been studied numerically and analytically in the context of Hoyle-Lyttleton accretion (HLA). Yet, within a CE, accretion structures may span a large fraction of the envelope radius, and in so doing sweep across a substantial radial gradient of density. We quantify these gradients using detailed stellar evolution models for a range of CE encounters. We provide estimates of typical scales in CE encounters that involve main sequence stars, white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes with giant-branch companions of a wide range of masses. We apply these typical scales to hydrodynamic simulations of 3D HLA with an upstream density gradient. This density gradient breaks the symmetry that defines HLA flow, and imposes an angular momentum barrier to accretion. Material that is focused into the vicinity of the embedded object thus may not be able to accrete. As a result, accretion rates drop dramatically, by 1-2 orders of magnitude, while drag rates are only mildly affected. We provide fitting formulae to the numerically-derived rates of drag and accretion as a function of the density gradient, which can be applied to any CE system. The reduced ratio of accretion to drag suggests that objects that can efficiently gain mass during CE evolution, such as black holes and neutron stars, may grow less than implied by the HLA formalism.

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 794, Issue 1, article id. 9, 14 pp., Oct 2014

White dwarfs (WDs) can be tidally disrupted only by massive black holes (MBHs) with masses less t... more White dwarfs (WDs) can be tidally disrupted only by massive black holes (MBHs) with masses less than ~105 M &sun;. These tidal interactions feed material to the MBH well above its Eddington limit, with the potential to launch a relativistic jet. The corresponding beamed emission is a promising indication of an otherwise quiescent MBH of relatively low mass. We show that the mass transfer history, and thus the light curve, is quite different when the disruptive orbit is parabolic, eccentric, or circular. The mass lost each orbit exponentiates in the eccentric-orbit case, leading to the destruction of the WD after several tens of orbits. We examine the stellar dynamics of clusters surrounding MBHs to show that single-passage WD disruptions are substantially more common than repeating encounters. The 1049 erg s-1 peak luminosity of these events makes them visible to cosmological distances. They may be detectible at rates of as many as tens per year by instruments like Swift. In fact, WD-disruption transients significantly outshine their main-sequence star counterparts and are the tidal interaction most likely to be detected arising from MBHs with masses less than 10^5 Msun;. The detection or nondetection of such WD-disruption transients by Swift is, therefore, a powerful tool to constrain the lower end of the MBH mass function. The emerging ultralong gamma-ray burst class of events all have peak luminosities and durations reminiscent of WD disruptions, offering a hint that WD-disruption transients may already be present in existing data sets.

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 786, Issue 2, article id. L12, 6 pp. , May 2014

The discovery of the gas cloud G2 on a near-radial orbit about Sgr A* has prompted much speculati... more The discovery of the gas cloud G2 on a near-radial orbit about Sgr A* has prompted much speculation on its origin. In this Letter, we propose that G2 formed out of the debris stream produced by the removal of mass from the outer envelope of a nearby giant star. We perform hydrodynamical simulations of the returning tidal debris stream with cooling and find that the stream condenses into clumps that fall periodically onto Sgr A*. We propose that one of these clumps is the observed G2 cloud, with the rest of the stream being detectable at lower Brgamma emissivity along a trajectory that would trace from G2 to the star that was partially disrupted. By simultaneously fitting the orbits of S2, G2, and ~2000 candidate stars, and by fixing the orbital plane of each candidate star to G2 (as is expected for a tidal disruption), we find that several stars have orbits that are compatible with the notion that one of them was tidally disrupted to produce G2. If one of these stars were indeed disrupted, it last encountered Sgr A* hundreds of years ago and has likely encountered Sgr A* repeatedly. However, while these stars are compatible with the giant disruption scenario given their measured positions and proper motions, their radial velocities are currently unknown. If one of these stars' radial velocity is measured to be compatible with a disruptive orbit, it would strongly suggest that its disruption produced G2.

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 784, Issue 1, article id. 71, 23 pp., Mar 2014

The inspiral and merger of eccentric binaries leads to gravitational waveforms distinct from thos... more The inspiral and merger of eccentric binaries leads to gravitational waveforms distinct from those generated by circularly merging binaries. Dynamical environments can assemble binaries with high eccentricity and peak frequencies within the LIGO band. In this paper, we study binary-single stellar scatterings occurring in dense stellar systems as a source of eccentrically inspiraling binaries. Many interactions between compact binaries and single objects are characterized by chaotic resonances in which the binary-single system undergoes many exchanges before reaching a final state. During these chaotic resonances, a pair of objects has a non-negligible probability of experiencing a very close passage. Significant orbital energy and angular momentum are carried away from the system by gravitational wave (GW) radiation in these close passages, and in some cases this implies an inspiral time shorter than the orbital period of the bound third body. We derive the cross section for such dynamical inspiral outcomes through analytical arguments and through numerical scattering experiments including GW losses. We show that the cross section for dynamical inspirals grows with increasing target binary semi-major axis a and that for equal-mass binaries it scales as a 2/7. Thus, we expect wide target binaries to predominantly contribute to the production of these relativistic outcomes. We estimate that eccentric inspirals account for approximately 1% of dynamically assembled non-eccentric merging binaries. While these events are rare, we show that binary-single scatterings are a more effective formation channel than single-single captures for the production of eccentrically inspiraling binaries, even given modest binary fractions.

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 777, Issue 2, article id. 133, 12 pp., Nov 2013

Stars may be tidally disrupted if, in a single orbit, they are scattered too close to a supermass... more Stars may be tidally disrupted if, in a single orbit, they are scattered too close to a supermassive black hole (SMBH). Tidal disruption events are thought to power luminous but short-lived accretion episodes that can light up otherwise quiescent SMBHs in transient flares. Here we explore a more gradual process of tidal stripping where stars approach the tidal disruption radius by stellar evolution while in an eccentric orbit. After the onset of mass transfer, these stars episodically transfer mass to the SMBH every pericenter passage, giving rise to low-level flares that repeat on the orbital timescale. Giant stars, in particular, will exhibit a runaway response to mass loss and "spoon-feed" material to the black hole for tens to hundreds of orbital periods. In contrast to full tidal disruption events, the duty cycle of this feeding mode is of order unity for black holes M bh >~ 107 Msun;. This mode of quasi-steady SMBH feeding is competitive with indirect SMBH feeding through stellar winds, and spoon-fed giant stars may play a role in determining the quiescent luminosity of local SMBHs.

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 757, Issue 2, article id. 134, 18 pp., Oct 2012

Sun-like stars are thought to be regularly disrupted by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) within g... more Sun-like stars are thought to be regularly disrupted by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) within galactic nuclei. Yet, as stars evolve off the main sequence their vulnerability to tidal disruption increases drastically as they develop a bifurcated structure consisting of a dense core and a tenuous envelope. Here we present the first hydrodynamic simulations of the tidal disruption of giant stars and show that the core has a substantial influence on the star's ability to survive the encounter. Stars with more massive cores retain large fractions of their envelope mass, even in deep encounters. Accretion flares resulting from the disruption of giant stars should last for tens to hundreds of years. Their characteristic signature in transient searches would not be the t -5/3 decay typically associated with tidal disruption events, but a correlated rise over many orders of magnitude in brightness on timescales of months to years. We calculate the relative disruption rates of stars of varying evolutionary stages in typical galactic centers, then use our results to produce Monte Carlo realizations of the expected flaring event populations. We find that the demographics of tidal disruption flares are strongly dependent on both stellar and black hole mass, especially near the limiting SMBH mass scale of ~108 M &sun;. At this black hole mass, we predict a sharp transition in the SMBH flaring diet beyond which all observable disruptions arise from evolved stars, accompanied by a dramatic cutoff in the overall tidal disruption flaring rate. Black holes less massive than this limiting mass scale will show observable flares from both main-sequence and evolved stars, with giants contributing up to 10% of the event rate. The relative fractions of stars disrupted at different evolutionary states can constrain the properties and distributions of stars in galactic nuclei other than our own.

Physical Review D, 2009

White dwarf-neutron star binaries generate detectable gravitational radiation. We construct Newto... more White dwarf-neutron star binaries generate detectable gravitational radiation. We construct Newtonian equilibrium models of corotational white dwarf-neutron star (WDNS) binaries in circular orbit and find that these models terminate at the Roche limit. At this point the binary will undergo either stable mass transfer (SMT) and evolve on a secular time scale, or unstable mass transfer (UMT), which results in the tidal disruption of the WD. The path a given binary will follow depends primarily on its mass ratio. We analyze the fate of known WDNS binaries and use population synthesis results to estimate the number of LISA-resolved galactic binaries that will undergo either SMT or UMT. We model the quasistationary SMT epoch by solving a set of simple ordinary differential equations and compute the corresponding gravitational waveforms. Finally, we discuss in general terms the possible fate of binaries that undergo UMT and construct approximate Newtonian equilibrium configurations of merged WDNS remnants. We use these configurations to assess plausible outcomes of our future, fully relativistic simulations of these systems. If sufficient WD debris lands on the NS, the remnant may collapse, whereby the gravitational waves from the inspiral, merger, and collapse phases will sweep from LISA through LIGO frequency bands. If the debris forms a disk about the NS, it may fragment and form planets.

This paper investigates the recent stellar merger transient M31LRN 2015 in the Andromeda galaxy. ... more This paper investigates the recent stellar merger transient M31LRN 2015 in the Andromeda galaxy. We analyze published optical photometry and spectroscopy along with a Hubble Space Telescope detection of the color and magnitude of the pre-outburst source. The transient outburst is consistent with dynamically driven ejecta at the onset of a common envelope episode, which eventually leads to the complete merger of a binary system. The light curve appears to contain two components: first sim10−2Modot\sim10^{-2} M_\odotsim10−2Modot of fast ejecta driven by shocks at the onset of common envelope, and later, sim0.3Modot\sim0.3 M_\odotsim0.3Modot of further ejecta as the secondary becomes more deeply engulfed within the primary. Just prior to merger, we find that the primary star is a 3−5.5Modot3-5.5 M_\odot3−5.5Modot sub-giant branch primary star with radius of 30−40Rodot30-40R_\odot30−40Rodot. Its position in the color-magnitude diagram shows that it is growing in radius, consistent with a picture where it engulfs its companion. By matching the properties of the primary star to the transient outburst, we show that the optical transient lasts less than ten orbits of the original binary, which had a pre-merger period of sim10\sim 10sim10 days.
We consider the possible orbital dynamics leading up to the merger, and argue that if the system merged due to the Darwin tidal instability it implies a lower mass main sequence companion of 0.1−0.6Modot0.1-0.6M_\odot0.1−0.6Modot. This analysis represents a promising step toward a more detailed understanding of flows in common envelope episodes through direct observational constraints.

When embedded in dense cluster cores, intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) acquire close stellar... more When embedded in dense cluster cores, intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) acquire close stellar or stellar-remnant companions. These companions are not only gravitationally bound, they tend to hierarchically isolate from other cluster stars through series of multibody encounters. In this paper, we study the demographics of IMBH companions in compact star clusters through direct N-body simulation. We study clusters initially composed of 10^5 or 2×10^5 stars with IMBHs of 75 and 150 solar masses, and follow their evolution for 6-10 Gyr. A tight innermost binary pair of IMBH and stellar object rapidly forms. The IMBH has a companion with orbital semi-major axis at least three times tighter than the second-most bound object over 90% of the time. These companionships have typical periods of order years and are subject to cycles of exchange and destruction. The most frequently observed, long-lived pairings persist for ∼10^7 yr. The demographics of IMBH companions in clusters are diverse; they include both main sequence, giant stars, and stellar remnants. Companion objects may reveal the presence of an IMBH in a cluster in one of several ways. Most-bound companion stars routinely suffer grazing tidal interactions with the IMBH, offering a dynamical mechanism to produce repeated flaring episodes like those seen in the IMBH candidate HLX-1. Stellar winds of companion stars provide a minimum quiescent accretion rate for IMBHs, with implications for radio searches for IMBH accretion in globular clusters. Finally, gravitational wave inspirals of compact objects are found to occur with promising frequency.

In this paper, we model the observable signatures of tidal disruptions of white dwarf (WD) stars ... more In this paper, we model the observable signatures of tidal disruptions of white dwarf (WD) stars by massive black holes (MBHs) of moderate mass, ≈10^3−10^ 5 M⊙. When the WD passes deep enough within the MBH's tidal field, these signatures include thermonuclear transients from burning during maximum compression. We combine a hydrodynamic simulation that includes nuclear burning of the disruption of a 0.6M⊙ C/O WD with a Monte Carlo radiative transfer calculation to synthesize the properties of a representative transient. The transient's emission emerges in the optical, with lightcurves and spectra reminiscent of type I SNe. The properties are strongly viewing-angle dependent, and key spectral signatures are ≈10,000 km s^−1 Doppler shifts due to the orbital motion of the unbound ejecta. Disruptions of He WDs likely produce large quantities of intermediate-mass elements, offering a possible production mechanism for Ca-rich transients. Accompanying multiwavelength transients are fueled by accretion and arise from the nascent accretion disk and relativistic jet. If MBHs of moderate mass exist with number densities similar to those of supermassive MBHs, both high energy wide-field monitors and upcoming optical surveys should detect tens to hundreds of WD tidal disruptions per year. The current best strategy for their detection may therefore be deep optical follow up of high-energy transients of unusually-long duration. The detection rate or the non-detection of these transients by current and upcoming surveys can thus be used to place meaningful constraints on the extrapolation of the MBH mass function to moderate masses.

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Apr 1, 2015

Investigations of elemental abundances in the ancient and most metal deficient stars are extremel... more Investigations of elemental abundances in the ancient and most metal deficient stars are extremely important because they serve as tests of variable nucleosynthesis pathways and can provide critical inferences of the type of stars that lived and died before them. The presence of r-process elements in a handful of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP-r) stars, which are assumed to be closely connected to the chemical yield from the first stars, is hard to reconcile with standard neutron star mergers. Here we show that the production rate of dynamically assembled compact binaries in high-z nuclear star clusters can attain a sufficient high value to be a potential viable source of heavy r-process material in CEMP-r stars. The predicted frequency of such events in the early Galaxy, much lower than the frequency of Type II supernovae but with significantly higher mass ejected per event, can naturally lead to a high level of scatter of Eu as observed in CEMP-r stars.

This paper models the orbital inspiral of a neutron star (NS) through the envelope of its giant-b... more This paper models the orbital inspiral of a neutron star (NS) through the envelope of its giant-branch companion during a common envelope (CE) episode. These CE episodes are necessary to produce close pairs of NSs that can inspiral and merge due to gravitational wave losses in less than a Hubble time. Because cooling by neutrinos can be very efficient, NSs have been predicted to accumulate significant mass during CE events, perhaps enough to lead them to collapse to black holes. We revisit this conclusion with the additional consideration of CE structure, particularly density gradients across the embedded NS's accretion radius. This work is informed by our recent numerical simulations that find that the presence of a density gradient strongly limits accretion by imposing a net angular momentum to the flow around the NS. Our calculations suggest that NSs should survive CE encounters. They accrete only modest amounts of envelope material, ≲0.1M⊙, which is broadly consistent with mass determinations of double NS binaries. With less mass gain, NSs must spiral deeper to eject their CE, leading to a potential increase in mergers. The survival of NSs in CE events has implications for the formation mechanism of observed double NS binaries, as well as for predicted rates of NS binary gravitational wave inspirals and their electromagnetic counterparts.

This paper examines flows in the immediate vicinity of stars and compact objects dynamically insp... more This paper examines flows in the immediate vicinity of stars and compact objects dynamically inspiralling within a common envelope (CE). These embedded objects spiral to tighter separations because of drag that is generated when gas collides and shocks as it is gravitationally focused. This flow convergence is expected to lead to gas accretion onto the inspiralling object. This process has been studied numerically and analytically in the context of Hoyle-Lyttleton accretion (HLA). Yet, within a CE, accretion structures may span a large fraction of the envelope radius, and in so doing sweep across a substantial radial gradient of density. We quantify these gradients using detailed stellar evolution models for a range of CE encounters. We provide estimates of typical scales in CE encounters that involve main sequence stars, white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes with giant-branch companions of a wide range of masses. We apply these typical scales to hydrodynamic simulations of 3D HLA with an upstream density gradient. This density gradient breaks the symmetry that defines HLA flow, and imposes an angular momentum barrier to accretion. Material that is focused into the vicinity of the embedded object thus may not be able to accrete. As a result, accretion rates drop dramatically, by 1-2 orders of magnitude, while drag rates are only mildly affected. We provide fitting formulae to the numerically-derived rates of drag and accretion as a function of the density gradient, which can be applied to any CE system. The reduced ratio of accretion to drag suggests that objects that can efficiently gain mass during CE evolution, such as black holes and neutron stars, may grow less than implied by the HLA formalism.

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 794, Issue 1, article id. 9, 14 pp., Oct 2014

White dwarfs (WDs) can be tidally disrupted only by massive black holes (MBHs) with masses less t... more White dwarfs (WDs) can be tidally disrupted only by massive black holes (MBHs) with masses less than ~105 M &sun;. These tidal interactions feed material to the MBH well above its Eddington limit, with the potential to launch a relativistic jet. The corresponding beamed emission is a promising indication of an otherwise quiescent MBH of relatively low mass. We show that the mass transfer history, and thus the light curve, is quite different when the disruptive orbit is parabolic, eccentric, or circular. The mass lost each orbit exponentiates in the eccentric-orbit case, leading to the destruction of the WD after several tens of orbits. We examine the stellar dynamics of clusters surrounding MBHs to show that single-passage WD disruptions are substantially more common than repeating encounters. The 1049 erg s-1 peak luminosity of these events makes them visible to cosmological distances. They may be detectible at rates of as many as tens per year by instruments like Swift. In fact, WD-disruption transients significantly outshine their main-sequence star counterparts and are the tidal interaction most likely to be detected arising from MBHs with masses less than 10^5 Msun;. The detection or nondetection of such WD-disruption transients by Swift is, therefore, a powerful tool to constrain the lower end of the MBH mass function. The emerging ultralong gamma-ray burst class of events all have peak luminosities and durations reminiscent of WD disruptions, offering a hint that WD-disruption transients may already be present in existing data sets.

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 786, Issue 2, article id. L12, 6 pp. , May 2014

The discovery of the gas cloud G2 on a near-radial orbit about Sgr A* has prompted much speculati... more The discovery of the gas cloud G2 on a near-radial orbit about Sgr A* has prompted much speculation on its origin. In this Letter, we propose that G2 formed out of the debris stream produced by the removal of mass from the outer envelope of a nearby giant star. We perform hydrodynamical simulations of the returning tidal debris stream with cooling and find that the stream condenses into clumps that fall periodically onto Sgr A*. We propose that one of these clumps is the observed G2 cloud, with the rest of the stream being detectable at lower Brgamma emissivity along a trajectory that would trace from G2 to the star that was partially disrupted. By simultaneously fitting the orbits of S2, G2, and ~2000 candidate stars, and by fixing the orbital plane of each candidate star to G2 (as is expected for a tidal disruption), we find that several stars have orbits that are compatible with the notion that one of them was tidally disrupted to produce G2. If one of these stars were indeed disrupted, it last encountered Sgr A* hundreds of years ago and has likely encountered Sgr A* repeatedly. However, while these stars are compatible with the giant disruption scenario given their measured positions and proper motions, their radial velocities are currently unknown. If one of these stars' radial velocity is measured to be compatible with a disruptive orbit, it would strongly suggest that its disruption produced G2.

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 784, Issue 1, article id. 71, 23 pp., Mar 2014

The inspiral and merger of eccentric binaries leads to gravitational waveforms distinct from thos... more The inspiral and merger of eccentric binaries leads to gravitational waveforms distinct from those generated by circularly merging binaries. Dynamical environments can assemble binaries with high eccentricity and peak frequencies within the LIGO band. In this paper, we study binary-single stellar scatterings occurring in dense stellar systems as a source of eccentrically inspiraling binaries. Many interactions between compact binaries and single objects are characterized by chaotic resonances in which the binary-single system undergoes many exchanges before reaching a final state. During these chaotic resonances, a pair of objects has a non-negligible probability of experiencing a very close passage. Significant orbital energy and angular momentum are carried away from the system by gravitational wave (GW) radiation in these close passages, and in some cases this implies an inspiral time shorter than the orbital period of the bound third body. We derive the cross section for such dynamical inspiral outcomes through analytical arguments and through numerical scattering experiments including GW losses. We show that the cross section for dynamical inspirals grows with increasing target binary semi-major axis a and that for equal-mass binaries it scales as a 2/7. Thus, we expect wide target binaries to predominantly contribute to the production of these relativistic outcomes. We estimate that eccentric inspirals account for approximately 1% of dynamically assembled non-eccentric merging binaries. While these events are rare, we show that binary-single scatterings are a more effective formation channel than single-single captures for the production of eccentrically inspiraling binaries, even given modest binary fractions.

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 777, Issue 2, article id. 133, 12 pp., Nov 2013

Stars may be tidally disrupted if, in a single orbit, they are scattered too close to a supermass... more Stars may be tidally disrupted if, in a single orbit, they are scattered too close to a supermassive black hole (SMBH). Tidal disruption events are thought to power luminous but short-lived accretion episodes that can light up otherwise quiescent SMBHs in transient flares. Here we explore a more gradual process of tidal stripping where stars approach the tidal disruption radius by stellar evolution while in an eccentric orbit. After the onset of mass transfer, these stars episodically transfer mass to the SMBH every pericenter passage, giving rise to low-level flares that repeat on the orbital timescale. Giant stars, in particular, will exhibit a runaway response to mass loss and "spoon-feed" material to the black hole for tens to hundreds of orbital periods. In contrast to full tidal disruption events, the duty cycle of this feeding mode is of order unity for black holes M bh >~ 107 Msun;. This mode of quasi-steady SMBH feeding is competitive with indirect SMBH feeding through stellar winds, and spoon-fed giant stars may play a role in determining the quiescent luminosity of local SMBHs.

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 757, Issue 2, article id. 134, 18 pp., Oct 2012

Sun-like stars are thought to be regularly disrupted by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) within g... more Sun-like stars are thought to be regularly disrupted by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) within galactic nuclei. Yet, as stars evolve off the main sequence their vulnerability to tidal disruption increases drastically as they develop a bifurcated structure consisting of a dense core and a tenuous envelope. Here we present the first hydrodynamic simulations of the tidal disruption of giant stars and show that the core has a substantial influence on the star's ability to survive the encounter. Stars with more massive cores retain large fractions of their envelope mass, even in deep encounters. Accretion flares resulting from the disruption of giant stars should last for tens to hundreds of years. Their characteristic signature in transient searches would not be the t -5/3 decay typically associated with tidal disruption events, but a correlated rise over many orders of magnitude in brightness on timescales of months to years. We calculate the relative disruption rates of stars of varying evolutionary stages in typical galactic centers, then use our results to produce Monte Carlo realizations of the expected flaring event populations. We find that the demographics of tidal disruption flares are strongly dependent on both stellar and black hole mass, especially near the limiting SMBH mass scale of ~108 M &sun;. At this black hole mass, we predict a sharp transition in the SMBH flaring diet beyond which all observable disruptions arise from evolved stars, accompanied by a dramatic cutoff in the overall tidal disruption flaring rate. Black holes less massive than this limiting mass scale will show observable flares from both main-sequence and evolved stars, with giants contributing up to 10% of the event rate. The relative fractions of stars disrupted at different evolutionary states can constrain the properties and distributions of stars in galactic nuclei other than our own.

Physical Review D, 2009

White dwarf-neutron star binaries generate detectable gravitational radiation. We construct Newto... more White dwarf-neutron star binaries generate detectable gravitational radiation. We construct Newtonian equilibrium models of corotational white dwarf-neutron star (WDNS) binaries in circular orbit and find that these models terminate at the Roche limit. At this point the binary will undergo either stable mass transfer (SMT) and evolve on a secular time scale, or unstable mass transfer (UMT), which results in the tidal disruption of the WD. The path a given binary will follow depends primarily on its mass ratio. We analyze the fate of known WDNS binaries and use population synthesis results to estimate the number of LISA-resolved galactic binaries that will undergo either SMT or UMT. We model the quasistationary SMT epoch by solving a set of simple ordinary differential equations and compute the corresponding gravitational waveforms. Finally, we discuss in general terms the possible fate of binaries that undergo UMT and construct approximate Newtonian equilibrium configurations of merged WDNS remnants. We use these configurations to assess plausible outcomes of our future, fully relativistic simulations of these systems. If sufficient WD debris lands on the NS, the remnant may collapse, whereby the gravitational waves from the inspiral, merger, and collapse phases will sweep from LISA through LIGO frequency bands. If the debris forms a disk about the NS, it may fragment and form planets.