Double-peaked Balmer Emission Indicating Prompt Accretion Disk Formation in an X-Ray Faint Tidal Disruption Event

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 903; no. 1; pp. 31 - 47
• Main Authors: Hung, Tiara, Foley, Ryan J., Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico, Dai, Jane L., Auchettl, Katie, Kilpatrick, Charles D., Mockler, Brenna, Brown, Jonathan S., Coulter, David A., Dimitriadis, Georgios, Holoien, Thomas W.-S., Law-Smith, Jamie A. P., Piro, Anthony L., Rest, Armin, Rojas-Bravo, César, Siebert, Matthew R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia The American Astronomical Society 01-11-2020; IOP Publishing
• Subjects: Accretion disks; Angular momentum; Astrophysics; Black hole physics; Disruption; Emissions; Galaxy accretion disks; High energy astrophysics; Inclination angle; Mass transport; Spectroscopy; Stellar mass
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/abb606

We present the multiwavelength analysis of the tidal disruption event (TDE) AT 2018hyz (ASASSN-18zj). From follow-up optical spectroscopy, we detect the first unambiguous case of resolved double-peaked Balmer emission in a TDE. The distinct line profile can be well-modeled by a low eccentricity (e 0.1) accretion disk extending out to ∼100 Rp and a Gaussian component originating from non-disk clouds, though a bipolar outflow origin cannot be completely ruled out. Our analysis indicates that in AT 2018hyz, disk formation took place promptly after the most-bound debris returned to pericenter, which we estimate to be roughly tens of days before the first detection. Redistribution of angular momentum and mass transport, possibly through shocks, must occur on the observed timescale of about a month to create the large H -emitting disk that comprises 5% of the initial stellar mass. With these new insights from AT 2018hyz, we infer that circularization is efficient in at least some, if not all optically bright, X-ray faint TDEs. In these efficiently circularized TDEs, the detection of double-peaked emission depends on the disk inclination angle and the relative strength of the disk contribution to the non-disk component, possibly explaining the diversity seen in the current sample.