TIDALPOWER · Unveiling the power of tidal disruption event light curves

The fate of a star travelling close enough to a massive compact object can cause its disruption due to strong tidal forces overcoming the stellar self-gravity. This event generates a bright, characteristic electromagnetic signature known as a tidal disruption event (TDE). TDEs have the potential of serving as tools to weigh and measure spins of dormant super-massive black holes at the centre of galaxies which otherwise could not be easily constrained. Currently, their usage is limited due to our understanding of the physical picture behind their observational properties. This project aims to answer the fundamental question ""what is the powering mechanism of the light curve of a TDE?"". To do so, the Fellow will develop a framework to perform general-relativistic radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of stellar disruptions by a super-massive black hole. This tool will include a self-consistent treatment and coupling of radiation to a fluid moving in a curved spacetime. The new framework will allow the Fellow to model tidal stellar disruptions and extract directly synthetic light curves from them, revealing how the electromagnetic emission is generated. The development of the project arrives at a crucial time given the imminent beginning of operations of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory that is expected to detect thousands of TDEs annually. The project TIDALPOWER will set the bases for counting with a unique modelling tool to synthesise electromagnetic signatures in order to maximise the output information from the current and forthcoming transient sky surveys.""