Expanding the diversity of tidal disruption events

Speaker: Jean Somalwar

Date: Monday, April 21, 2025

Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm

Location: 472 Willamette Hall (IFS Seminar Room)

Abstract: Tidal disruption events (TDEs) occur when a star is tidally shredded by a supermassive black hole (SMBH). They are a key probe of SMBH demographics and accretion physics. Optical surveys have been key for identifying TDEs, but searches have, until recently, relied on the properties of known TDEs to develop selection criteria, leading to TDE samples that likely suffer from significant selection effects. This talk will summarize efforts to expand the landsca  pe of TDEs using both radio and optical surveys. I will first discuss highlights from radio TDE searches – in particular, a sample of radio+optical TDEs that suggest that expanding our TDE searches may illuminate fundamentally different (lower mass, gas-rich) systems. I’ll then discuss ongoing efforts to expand our optical TDE selection, and highlight a newly discovered, offset, flaring IMBH candidate.

Host: Yvette Cendes