Photo of the 2020 AT Radio mot with the VLA. The observation was taken in the Cband (4-8 GHz) on February 28, 2021. The black oval in the lower left corner of the image shows the size and shape of the telescope beam. AT 2020mot in the center of the photo. The point source model for flux density is preferred over the extended Gaussian model for the source at all frequencies. credit: Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.abj9570
A team of astronomers from Finland, Greece and the United States has found evidence to show that the polarized light emissions observed during the tidal disruption event were caused by colliding streams of material from a destroyed star. In their study, reported in the journal Sciencesthe group analyzed data from a tidal disturbance event in the WISEA galaxy.
Previous research has shown that if a black hole moves close enough to a star, the star can stretch into long filaments instead of falling straight out. Such actions are known as tidal perturbation events (TDEs) and the filament material from the destroyed star tends to light up as it orbits the black hole before falling off. In this new effort, the researchers sought to learn more about the source of the bright light. Light from such a TDE tape. To that end, they obtained data from the Northern Optical Telescope as it captured TDE in action and used software from the High Energy Astrophysical Science Archive Research Center to study it.
They were able to see the remaining matter from the TDE orbiting the black hole. They were also able to see that the material became hotter due to the energy from the encounter.
During their initial work, they found that measurements of optical polarization surrounding the TDE varied during the event and peaked at a linear polarization score of 25 ± 4%. They noted that this high degree of polarization indicates a relativistic plane. But after eight months, no radio emissions had been detected, which would not have been the case if the emissions had been associated with a relativistic plane.
The team then compared their observations to models that depict interactions between black holes and stars. They report that it is likely that because residual matter from the TDE encircled the black hole, it collided with similar material that orbited the black hole in the opposite direction and produced a shock wave – which was the source of the high polarization they observed.
more information:
I. Liodakis et al, Optical polarization from the collision of stellar stream shocks in a tidal disturbance event, Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.abj9570
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the quote: Polarized light emission from tidal disturbance found caused by collision of material streams from a star (2023, May 14) Retrieved May 14, 2023 from https://phys.org/news/2023-05-polarized-optical-emission – tidal-disruption. html
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