Collaborative Research: The Radiation Magnetohydrodynamics of Tidal Disruption Events

合作研究：潮汐破坏事件的辐射磁流体动力学

• 批准号: 2307885
• 负责人: Philip Chang
• 金额: $ 28.77万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2307885&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Radiation; Magnetohydrodynamics; Tidal

A tidal disruption event (TDE) is an astrophysical phenomenon that occurs when a star approaches sufficiently close to a supermassive black hole (SMBH) to be pulled apart by the black hole’s tidal force. As this happens, part of the star’s mass is captured in an accretion disk around the black hole (BH), and as this matter falls into the black hole, it accelerates, generating electromagnetic radiation, which can be detected by astronomical telescopes. To better study these events, which can help scientists understand strong gravitational fields, the space around the cores of galaxies, and physics of accretion, a research collaboration between the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of Virginia will use numerical simulations to probe the radiation magnetohydrodynamics (the study of emission from highly magnetized plasmas) of TDEs and how the physics is manifest through observational signatures. The investigators will also provide outreach and educational opportunities for students and the community, including presentations at the Manfred Olson Planetarium in Milwaukee, teaching at a summer school in computational science, and mentoring undergraduate students in the VA-NC Alliance and UVA-Spelman exchange summer programs, with the goal of increasing participation of underrepresented groups in STEM research fields.The investigators will use the numerical codes MANGA and Athena++, for which they have made significant algorithmic investments, and which are ideal for numerical simulations of this TDEs. The investigators will realistically model the tidal disruption of stars from initial disruption to fallback and subsequent accretion. In particular, they will determine how magnetic fields and radiation pressure affect the tidal streams from the star’s disruption, drive the evolution of stream-stream collisions, and impact the subsequent accretion onto the black hole, allowing them explore the physics of super-Eddington accretion in TDE events and their observational signatures. This work is crucial for the intepretation of the the large number of events that will be discovered with the current transient surveys and the Vera Rubin Observatory in the near future.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

潮汐分裂事件(TDE)是一种天体物理现象，当恒星足够接近超大质量黑洞(SMBH)时，就会被黑洞的潮汐力量拉开。在这种情况下，恒星的部分质量被黑洞(BH)周围的吸积盘捕获，当这些物质落入黑洞时，它会加速，产生电磁辐射，天文望远镜可以探测到。为了更好地研究这些事件，帮助科学家了解强大的引力场、星系核心周围的空间和吸积物理，威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校和弗吉尼亚大学之间的一项研究合作将使用数值模拟来探索TDEs的辐射磁流体动力学(研究高度磁化的等离子体发射)，以及物理是如何通过观测信号表现出来的。调查人员还将为学生和社区提供外展和教育机会，包括在密尔沃基的曼弗雷德·奥尔森天文馆演讲，在暑期学校教授计算科学，指导退伍军人-北卡罗来纳州联盟和UVA-斯佩尔曼交换暑期项目的本科生，目标是增加未被充分代表的群体在STEM研究领域的参与。调查人员将使用数字代码MANGA和雅典娜++，他们对这些代码进行了大量的算法投资，这是对这种TDEs进行数值模拟的理想选择。研究人员将真实地模拟恒星从最初的分裂到后退和随后的吸积的潮汐分裂。特别是，他们将确定磁场和辐射压力如何影响恒星分裂产生的潮汐流，驱动流-流碰撞的演化，并影响随后对黑洞的吸积，使他们能够探索TDE事件中超级爱丁顿吸积的物理及其观测特征。这项工作对于解释目前的瞬变调查和维拉·鲁宾天文台在不久的将来将发现的大量事件至关重要。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。