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At least 397 records · Page 22
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2017

Studying the Accretion Geometry of EXO 2030+375 at Luminosities Close to the Propeller Regime

The Be X-ray binary EXO2030+375 was in an extended low-luminosity state during most of 2016. We observed this state with NuSTAR and Swift, supported by INTEGRAL observations and optical spectroscopy with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT). We present a comprehensive spectral and timing analysis of these data here to study the accretion geometry and investigate a possible onset of the propeller e ect. The H data show that the circumstellar disk of the Be-star is still present. We measure equivalent widths similar to values found during more active phases in the past, indicating that the low-luminosity state is not simply triggered by a smaller Be disk. The NuSTAR data, taken at a 3-78 keV luminosity of 6:8 1035 erg s-1 (for a distance of 7.1 kpc), are nicely described by standard accreting pulsar models such as an absorbed power law with a high-energy cuto. We find that pulsations are still clearly visible at these luminosities, indicating that accretion is continuing despite the very low mass transfer rate. In phaseresolved spectroscopy we find a peculiar variation of the photon index from 1.5 to 2.5 over only about 3% of the rotational period. This variation is similar to that observed with XMM-Newton at much higher luminosities. It may be connected to the accretion column passing through our line of sight. With Swift/XRT we observe luminosities as low as 1034 erg s-1 where the data quality did not allow us to search for pulsations, but the spectrum is much softer and well described by either a blackbody or soft power-law continuum. This softer spectrum might be due to the accretion being stopped by the propeller e ect and we only observe the neutron star surface cooling.

Fürst, F.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Analysis of Experimental Ice Accretion Data and Assessment of a Thermodynamic Model During Ice Crystal Icing

This paper evaluates a thermodynamic ice crystal icing model that has been previously presented to describe the possible mechanisms of icing within the core of a turbofan jet engine. The model functions between two distinct ice accretions based on a surface energy balance: freeze-dominated icing and melt-dominated icing. Freeze-dominated icing occurs when liquid water (from melted ice crystals) freezes and accretes on a surface along with the existing ice of the impinging water and ice mass. This freeze-dominated icing is characterized as having strong adhesion to the surface. The amount of ice accretion is partially dictated by a freeze fraction, which is the fraction of impinging liquid water that freezes. Melt-dominated icing occurs as unmelted ice on a surface accumulates. This melt-dominated icing is characterized by weakly bonded surface adhesion. The amount of ice accumulation is partially dictated by a melt fraction, which is the fraction of impinging ice crystals that melts. Experimentally observed ice growth rates suggest that only a small fraction of the impinging ice remains on the surface, implying a mass loss mechanism such as splash, runback, bounce, or erosion. The fraction of mass loss must be determined in conjunction with the fraction of freezing liquid water or fraction of melting ice on an icing surface for a given ice growth rate. This mass loss parameter, however, along with the freeze fraction and melt fraction, are the only experimental parameters that are currently not measured directly. Using icing growth rates from ice crystal icing experiments, a methodology that has been previously proposed is used to determine these unknown parameters. This work takes ice accretion data from tests conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the Glenn Research Center in 2018 that examined the fundamental physics of ice crystal icing. This paper continues evaluation of the thermodynamic model from a previous effort, with additions to the model that account for sub-freezing temperatures that have been observed at the leading edge of the airfoil during icing. The predicted temperatures were generally in good agreement with measured temperatures. Other key findings include the total wet-bulb temperature being a good first order indicator of whether icing is freeze-dominated (sub-freezing values) or melt-dominated (above freezing). Maximum sticking efficiency values, the fraction of impinging mass that adheres to a surface, was calculated to be about 0.2, and retained this maximum value for a range of melt ratios (0.3 to 0.65 and possibly higher), which is defined as the ratio of liquid water content to total water content. Higher air velocities reduced the maximum sticking efficiency and shifted the icing regime to higher melt ratio values. Finally, the leading edge ice accretion angle was found to be related to ice growth (lower growth rates for smaller angles) and melt ratio (smaller melt ratios resulted in smaller angles, likely due to erosion effects).

Ice-Crystal Icing↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Variety in the Variability of Accreting Supermassive Binary Black Holes

Accreting supermassive binary black holes are key multi-messenger sources for LISA, yet are challenging to simulate realistically as solving the radiation magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations over the full dynamic spatio-temporal range of the problem is computationally infeasible at present. We report on our collaboration's progress simulating these systems using general relativistic MHD simulations and dynamic GR. In order to cover a larger temporal range in one set of simulations, we constrain our view to the circumbinary disk region and measure the effects binary mass ratio, accretion disk size, and black hole spin have on the structure and variability of the accretion flow. We particularly emphasize how these parameters influence the overdensity feature, which orbits the binary near the edge of the cavity, since it is responsible for most of the electromagnetic emission's variability and variability is a key signature of a system being a binary. Extending to smaller length scales, we will report on simulations following accretion all the down to the event horizons so that we can begin to investigate how black hole spin affects mini-disk dynamics, accretion rate, and jet power.

Scott C Noble↗
NASA NTRS2021

Variety in the Variability of Accreting Supermassive Binary Black Holes

Accreting supermassive binary black holes are key multi-messenger sources for LISA, yet are challenging to simulate realistically as solving the radiation magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations over the full dynamic spatio-temporal range of the problem is computationally infeasible at present. We will provide a brief summary of the the progress made in the field to understand these systems theoretically and what new directions groups are pursuing. We will also report on our collaboration's progress to simulate these systems using general relativistic MHD and dynamic GR. In order to cover a larger temporal range in one set of simulations, we constrain our view to the circumbinary disk region and measure how the binary mass ratio, accretion disk size, and black hole spin have on the structure and variability of the accretion flow. We particularly emphasize how these parameters influence the overdensity feature, which orbits the binary near the edge of the cavity, since it is responsible for most of the electromagnetic emission's variability and variability is a key signature of a system being a binary. Extending to smaller length scales, we will report on simulations following accretion all the down to the event horizons so that we can begin to investigate how black hole spin affects mini-disk dynamics, accretion rate, and jet power. The novel computational methods enabling inclusion of the black holes in the domain, including multi-patch methods, will be described.

Scott C Noble↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Large-Drop Ice Accretion Test Results for a Large Scale Swept Wing Model

In-flight icing is an important consideration that affects aircraft design, performance and safety. Newer regulations combined with increasing demand to reduce fuel burn, emissions and noise are driving a need for improvements in icing simulation capability. To that end, this paper presents the results of ice accretion testing conducted in the NASA Icing Research Tunnel on a large swept wing section typical of a modern commercial transport. The model was based upon a section of the Common Research Model wing at the 64% semispan station with a streamwise chord length of 136 in. The test conditions were developed with an icing scaling analysis to generate similar conditions for a small MVD = 25 μm and a large MVD = 110 μm. A series of tests were conducted over a range of total temperature from -23.8 ˚C to -1.4 ˚C with all other conditions held constant. The results for the small MVD cloud conditions were consistent with previous work and showed the changing ice morphology from rime ice at colder temperatures to highly 3D scallop ice in the range of -8.7 ˚C to -3.8 ˚C. The results for the large MVD cloud conditions exhibited some differences in the ice accretion morphology from the small MVD conditions. Scallop-like ice features were observed at total temperature of -3.8˚C. The large MVD ice accretion at lower temperatures tended to be smoother than the corresponding ice accretion for small MVD. The thickness of the main ice shape tended to be larger for the small MVD conditions compared to the corresponding large MVD ice shape while the latter had more ice farther downstream. The measured ice mass was approximately equal between the corresponding small and large MVD ice shapes up to a freezing fraction of 0.6. For higher freezing fraction, the large MVD ice shapes weighed more. Cloud MVD variation from 50 μm to 230 μm while holding the scaling parameters constant resulted in very minor differences in the ice shapes, mostly in the upper and lower surface chordwise extents. Ice volume was computed from 3D scan data and used to calculate a ratio of ice mass to volume. The resulting values were in the range of 240 to 455 Kg/m3. While this is consistent with analogous values previously reported in the literature, more data are needed to determine a specific trend in this ratio as a function of freezing fraction and the corresponding governing physical phenomena. This work has resulted in a significant experimental database of ice accretion for small and large MVD conditions applicable to large-scale swept wings.

Icing↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Large-Drop Ice Accretion Test Results for a Large Scale Swept Wing Section

In-flight icing is an important consideration that affects aircraft design, performance and safety. Newer regulations combined with increasing demand to reduce fuel burn, emissions and noise are driving a need for improvements in icing simulation capability. To that end, this paper presents the results of ice accretion testing conducted in the NASA Icing Research Tunnel on a large swept wing typical of a modern commercial transport. The model was based upon a section of the Common Research Model wing at the 64% semispan station with a streamwise chord length of 136 in. The test conditions were developed with an icing scaling analysis to generate similar conditions for a small MVD = 25 μm and a large MVD = 110 μm. A series of tests were conducted over a range of total temperature from -23.8 ˚C to -1.4 ˚C with all other conditions held constant. The results for the small MVD cloud conditions were consistent with previous work and showed the changing ice morphology from rime ice at colder temperatures to highly 3D scallop ice in the range of -8.7 ˚C to -3.8 ˚C. The results for the large MVD cloud conditions exhibited some differences in the ice accretion morphology. Scallop-like ice features were observed at total temperature of -3.8˚C. The large MVD ice accretion at lower temperatures tended to be smoother than the corresponding ice accretion for small MVD. The thickness of the main ice shape tended to be larger for the small MVD conditions compared to the corresponding large MVD ice shape while the latter had more ice farther downstream. The measured ice mass was approximately equal between the corresponding small and large MVD ice shapes up to a freezing fraction of 0.6. For higher freezing fraction, the large MVD ice shapes weighed more. Cloud MVD variation from 50 μm to 230 μm while holding the scaling parameters constant resulted in very minor differences in the ice shapes, mostly in the upper and lower surface chordwise extents. Ice volume was computed from 3D scan data and used to calculate a ratio of ice mass to volume. The resulting values were in the range of 240 to 455 Kg/m3. While this is consistent with analogous values previously reported in the literature, more data are needed to determine a specific trend in this ratio as a function of freezing fraction and the corresponding governing physical phenomena. This work has resulted in a significant experimental database of ice accretion for small and large MVD conditions applicable to large-scale swept wings.

Icing↗
NASA NTRS2021

Preventing Anomalous Torques in Circumbinary Accretion Simulations

Numerical experiments are the primary method of studying the evolution of circumbinary disks due to the strong nonlinearities involved. Many circumbinary simulations also require the use of numerical mass sinks: source terms that prevent gas from unphysically accumulating around the simulated point masses by removing gas at a given rate. However, special care must be taken when drawing physical conclusions from such simulations to ensure that results are not biased by numerical artifacts. We demonstrate how improved sink methods reduce some of these biases, using simulations of aspect ratio 0.1 accretion disks around binaries with mass ratios between 0.1 and 1. We show that sink terms that do not reduce the angular momentum of gas relative to the accreting object (1) reduce the dependence on the sink rate of quantities such as the torque on the binary, distribution of accretion between binary components, and evolution of the binary semimajor axis; (2) reduce the degree to which the sink rate affects the structure of the accretion disks around each binary component; (3) alter the variability of accretion onto the binary, regularizing it in time. We also investigate other potential sources of systematic error, such as gravitational softening and simplifications to the viscous stress tensor. Because of the strong dependence of binary orbital evolution on both the torque and the distribution of mass between binary components, the sink method influences the orbital evolution of the binary at all mass ratios, with mass ratios below ∼0.3 most affected.

Alexander Dittmann↗
NASA NTRS2021

Spin and Accretion Rate Dependence of Black Hole X-Ray Spectra

We present a survey of how the spectral features of black hole X-ray binary systems depend on spin, accretion rate, viewing angle, and Fe abundance when predicted on the basis of first-principles physical calculations. The power-law component hardens with increasing spin. The thermal component strengthens with increasing accretion rate. The Compton bump is enhanced by higher accretion rate and lower spin. The Fe Kα equivalent width grows sublinearly with Fe abundance. Strikingly, the Kα profile is more sensitive to accretion rate than to spin because its radial surface brightness profile is relatively flat, and higher accretion rate extends the production region to smaller radii. The overall radiative efficiency is at least 30%–100% greater than as predicted by the Novikov–Thorne model.

Brooks E Kinch↗
DOE OSTI2012

PROTOSTELLAR ACCRETION FLOWS DESTABILIZED BY MAGNETIC FLUX REDISTRIBUTION

Magnetic flux redistribution lies at the heart of the problem of star formation in dense cores of molecular clouds that are magnetized to a realistic level. If all of the magnetic flux of a typical core were to be dragged into the central star, the stellar field strength would be orders of magnitude higher than the observed values. This well-known magnetic flux problem can in principle be resolved through non-ideal MHD effects. Two-dimensional (axisymmetric) calculations have shown that ambipolar diffusion, in particular, can transport magnetic flux outward relative to matter, allowing material to enter the central object without dragging the field lines along. We show through simulations that such axisymmetric protostellar accretion flows are unstable in three dimensions to magnetic interchange instability in the azimuthal direction. The instability is driven by the magnetic flux redistributed from the matter that enters the central object. It typically starts to develop during the transition from the prestellar phase of star formation to the protostellar mass accretion phase. In the latter phase, the magnetic flux is transported outward mainly through advection by strongly magnetized low-density regions that expand against the collapsing inflow. The tussle between the gravity-driven infall and magnetically driven expansion leads to a highly filamentary inner accretion flow that is more disordered than previously envisioned. The efficient outward transport of magnetic flux by advection lowers the field strength at small radii, making the magnetic braking less efficient and the formation of rotationally supported disks easier in principle. However, we find no evidence for such disks in any of our rotating collapse simulations. We conclude that the inner protostellar accretion flow is shaped to a large extent by the flux redistribution-driven magnetic interchange instability. How disks form in such an environment is unclear.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

INTERFERENCE AS AN ORIGIN OF THE PEAKED NOISE IN ACCRETING X-RAY BINARIES

We propose a physical model for the peaked noise in the X-ray power density spectra of accreting X-ray binaries. We interpret its appearance as an interference of two Comptonization continua: one coming from the upscattering of seed photons from the cold thin disk and the other fed by the synchrotron emission of the hot flow. Variations of both X-ray components are caused by fluctuations in mass accretion rate, but there is a delay between them corresponding to the propagation timescale from the disk Comptonization radius to the region of synchrotron Comptonization. If the disk and synchrotron Comptonization are correlated, the humps in the power spectra are harmonically related and the dips between them appear at frequencies related as odd numbers 1:3:5. If they are anti-correlated, the humps are related as 1:3:5, but the dips are harmonically related. Similar structures are expected to be observed in accreting neutron star binaries and supermassive black holes. The delay can be easily recovered from the frequency of peaked noise and further used to constrain the combination of the viscosity parameter and disk height-to-radius ratio α ( H / R ){sup 2} of the accretion flow. We model multi-peak power spectra of black hole X-ray binaries GX 339–4 and XTE J1748–288 to constrain these parameters.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Disk–Jet Connection in Active Supermassive Black Holes in the Standard Accretion Disk Regime

We study the disk–jet connection in supermassive black holes by investigating the properties of their optical and radio emissions utilizing the SDSS DR7 and the NVSS catalogs. Our sample contains 7017 radio-loud quasars with detection both at 1.4 GHz and SDSS optical spectra. Using this radio-loud quasar sample, we investigate the correlation among the jet power (${P}_{\mathrm{jet}}$), the bolometric disk luminosity (${L}_{\mathrm{disk}}$), and the black hole mass (${M}_{\mathrm{BH}}$) in the standard accretion disk regime. We find that the jet powers correlate with the bolometric disk luminosities as $\mathrm{log}{P}_{\mathrm{jet}}=(0.96\pm 0.012)\mathrm{log}{L}_{\mathrm{disk}}+(0.79\pm 0.55)$. This suggests the jet production efficiency of ${\eta }_{\mathrm{jet}}\simeq {1.1}_{-0.76}^{+2.6}\,\times {10}^{-2}$ assuming the disk radiative efficiency of 0.1, implying low black hole spin parameters and/or low magnetic flux for radio-loud quasars. But it can be also due to the dependence of this efficiency on the geometrical thickness of the accretion flow, which is expected to be small for quasars accreting at the disk Eddington ratios $0.01\lesssim \lambda \lesssim 0.3$. This low jet production efficiency does not significantly increase even if we set the disk radiative efficiency to be 0.3. We also investigate the fundamental plane in our samples among ${P}_{\mathrm{jet}}$, ${L}_{\mathrm{disk}}$, and ${M}_{\mathrm{BH}}$. In conclusion, we could not find a statistically significant fundamental plane for radio-loud quasars in the standard accretion regime.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

General-relativistic Resistive Magnetohydrodynamics with Robust Primitive-variable Recovery for Accretion Disk Simulations

Recent advances in black hole astrophysics, particularly the first visual evidence of a supermassive black holeat the center of the galaxy M87 by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), and the detection of an orbiting “hot spot”nearby the event horizon of Sgr A* in the Galactic center by the Gravity Collaboration, require the developmentof novel numerical methods to understand the underlying plasma microphysics. Non-thermal emission related tosuch hot spots is conjectured to originate from plasmoids that form due to magnetic reconnection in thin currentlayers in the innermost accretion zone. Resistivity plays a crucial role in current sheet formation, magneticreconnection, and plasmoid growth in black hole accretion disks and jets. We included resistivity in the three-dimensional general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) codeBHACand present the implementationof an Implicit-Explicit scheme to treat the stiff resistive source terms of the GRMHD equations. The algorithmis tested in combination with adaptive mesh refinement to resolve the resistive scales and a constrained transportmethod to keep the magnetic field solenoidal. Several novel methods for primitive variable recovery, a key part inrelativistic magnetohydrodynamics codes, are presented and compared for accuracy, robustness, and efficiency.We propose a new inversion strategy that allows for resistive-GRMHD simulations of low gas-to-magneticpressure ratio and highly magnetized regimes as applicable for black hole accretion disks, jets, and neutron starmagnetospheres. We apply the new scheme to study the effect of resistivity on accreting black holes, accountingfor dissipative effects as reconnection

(magnetohydrodynamics:) MHD↗
DOE OSTI2017

Accretion shocks in the laboratory: Design of an experiment to study star formation

Here, we present the design of a laboratory-astrophysics experiment to study magnetospheric accretion relevant to young, pre-main-sequence stars. Spectra of young stars show evidence of hotspots created when streams of accreting material impact the surface of the star and create shocks. The structures that form during this process are poorly understood, as the surfaces of young stars cannot be spatially resolved. Our experiment would create a scaled "accretion shock" at a major (several kJ) laser facility. The experiment drives a plasma jet (the "accretion stream") into a solid block (the "stellar surface"), in the presence of a parallel magnetic field analogous to the star's local field.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

ON THE NATURE OF THE FIRST TRANSIENT Z SOURCE XTE J1701-462: ITS ACCRETION DISK STRUCTURE, NEUTRON STAR MAGNETIC FIELD STRENGTH, AND HARD TAIL

Using data from the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer, we investigate the spectral evolution along a 'Z' track and a '{nu}' track on the hardness-intensity diagrams of the first transient Z source XTE J1701-462. The spectral analyses suggest that the inner disk radius depends on the mass accretion rate, in agreement with the model prediction, R{sub in}{proportional_to}M-dot{sup 2/7}{sub disk}, for a radiation-pressure-dominated accretion disk interacting with the magnetosphere of a neutron star (NS). The changes in the disk mass accretion rate M-dot{sub disk} are responsible for the evolution of the 'Z' or '{nu}' track. Radiation pressure thickens the disk considerably and also produces significant outflows. The NS surface magnetic field strength, derived from the interaction between the magnetosphere and the radiation-pressure-dominated accretion disk, is {approx}(1-3) x 10{sup 9} G, which is possibly between normal atoll and Z sources. A significant hard tail is detected in the horizontal branches and we discuss several possible origins of the hard tail.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

ACCRETION RATES OF MOONLETS EMBEDDED IN CIRCUMPLANETARY PARTICLE DISKS

We examine the gravitational capture probability of colliding particles in circumplanetary particle disks and accretion rates of small particles onto an embedded moonlet, using analytic calculation, three-body orbital integrations, and N-body simulations. Expanding our previous work, we take into account the Rayleigh distribution of particles' orbital eccentricities and inclinations in our analytic calculation and orbital integration and confirm agreement between them when the particle velocity dispersion is comparable to or larger than their mutual escape velocity and the ratio of the sum of the physical radii of colliding particles to their mutual Hill radius (r-tilde{sub p}) is much smaller than unity. As shown by our previous work, the capture probability decreases significantly when the velocity dispersion is larger than the escape velocity and/or r-tilde{sub p}{approx}>0.7. Rough surfaces of particles can enhance the capture probability. We compare the results of three-body calculations with N-body simulations for accretion of small particles by an embedded moonlet and find agreement at the initial stage of accretion. However, when particles forming an aggregate on the moonlet surface nearly fill the Hill sphere, the aggregate reaches a quasi-steady state with a nearly constant number of particles covering the moonlet, and the accretion rate is significantly reduced compared to the three-body results.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Black hole mass, jet power, and accretion in AGNs

We study the relation between accretion, black hole mass, and jet power in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) using a large group of blazars detected by the Fermi Large Area Telescope and radio galaxies. Our main results are as follows. (1) The jet power of flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) and the FRII high-excitation galaxy (HEG) depends on the black hole mass, which suggests that the FSRQs and FRII HEG are in the radiation-pressure-dominated regime. The jet power of BL Lacs and the FRI low-excitation galaxy (LEG) depends on the accretion, which suggests that the BL Lacs and FRI LEG are in the gas-pressure-dominated regime. (2) We find that most of FSRQs and BL Lacs have P{sub jet}>L{sub BZ}{sup max}, which suggests that the Blandford–Znajek mechanism is insufficient to explain the jet power of these objects. (3) The FSRQs are roughly separated from BL Lacs by Ledlow–Owenʼs dividing line in the log P{sub jet}−logM plane, which supports the unified scheme of AGNs. (4) The FSRQs and BL Lacs have a clear division at L{sub bol}/L{sub Edd}∼0.01, and the distribution of Eddington ratios of BL Lacs and FSRQs exhibits a bimodal nature, which implies that the accretion mode of FSRQs may be different from that of BL Lacs. (5) We find a significant correlation between broad-line luminosity and jet power, which supports a direct tight connection between jet power and accretion.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

ON THE STRUCTURE OF ACCRETION DISKS WITH OUTFLOWS

To study the outflows from accretion disks, we solve the set of hydrodynamic equations for accretion disks in spherical coordinates (r{theta}{phi}) to obtain the explicit structure along the {theta}-direction. Using self-similar assumptions in the radial direction, we change the equations to a set of ordinary differential equations about the {theta}-coordinate, which are then solved with symmetrical boundary conditions in the equatorial plane; the velocity field is then obtained. The {alpha} viscosity prescription is applied and an advective factor f is used to simplify the energy equation. The results display thinner, quasi-Keplerian disks for Shakura-Sunyaev disks; thicker, sub-Keplerian disks for advection-dominated accretion flows; and slim disks which are consistent with previous popular analytical models. However, an inflow region and an outflow region always exist, except when the viscosity parameter {alpha} is too large, which supports the results of some recent numerical simulation works. Our results indicate that the outflows should be common in various accretion disks and may be stronger in slim disks, where both advection and radiation pressure are dominant. We also present the structure's dependence on the input parameters and discuss their physical meanings. The caveats of this work and possible improvements for the future are discussed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

TIDAL DISRUPTION FLARES: THE ACCRETION DISK PHASE

The evolution of an accretion disk, formed as a consequence of the disruption of a star by a black hole, is followed by solving numerically hydrodynamic equations. The present investigation aims to study the dependence of resulting light curves on dynamical and physical properties of such a transient disk during its existence. One of the main results derived from our simulations is that blackbody fits of X-ray data tend to overestimate the true mean disk temperature. In fact, the temperature derived from blackbody fits should be identified with the color X-ray temperature rather than the average value derived from the true temperature distribution along the disk. The time interval between the beginning of the circularization of the bound debris and the beginning of the accretion process by the black hole is determined by the viscous (or accretion) timescale, which also fixes the rising part of the resulting light curve. The luminosity peak coincides with the beginning of matter accretion by the black hole and the late evolution of the light curve depends on the evolution of the debris fallback rate. Peak bolometric luminosities are in the range 10{sup 45}-10{sup 46} erg s{sup -1}, whereas peak luminosities in soft X-rays (0.2-2.0 keV) are typically one order of magnitude lower. The typical timescale derived from our preferred models for the flare luminosity to decay by two orders of magnitude is about 3-4 yr. Predicted soft X-ray light curves reproduce quite well data on galaxies in which a variable X-ray emission possibly related to a tidal event was detected. In the cases of NGC 3599 and IC 3599, data are reproduced well by models defined by a black hole with mass {approx}10{sup 7} M{sub sun} and a disrupted star of about 1 solar mass. The X-ray variation observed in XMMSL1 is consistent with a model defined by a black hole with mass {approx}3 x 10{sup 6} M{sub sun} and a disrupted star of 1 solar mass, while that observed in the galaxy situated in the cluster A1689 is consistent with a model including a black hole of {approx}10{sup 7} M{sub sun} and a disrupted star of {approx}0.5 M{sub sun}.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗