Oral Contribution (O0.2) Sjoert van Velzen (Leiden)
The First Population Analysis of Tidal Disruption Events
The tidal disruption of a star by a massive black hole is a rare event that results in a spectacular flare of electromagnetic radiation. Visible from radio to X-ray wavelengths, tidal disruption flares are a unique probe to study massive black holes and the nucleus of their host galaxies. Over the last decade, the detection rate of these events has increased and this has sparked an array of (unexpected) discoveries. An important leap forward was recently made possible thanks to the Zwicky Transient Facility. Using the stream of transient alerts produced by this survey, we significantly increased the sample size of known tidal flares. This enabled the first population analysis of these events; in this talk I will highlight the key results of this analysis. For example, we found evidence for a connection between the mass of the stars that gets disrupted and the spectroscopic properties of the event.
