Monday, October 26, 2026 at 3:30 pm

JILA auditorium

Yvette Cendes, University of Oregon

"New Surprises in Late-Time Emission from Tidal Disruption Events (TDEs)"

Abstract:

Tidal Disruption Events (TDEs) occur when a star wanders too close to a supermassive black hole (SMBH), and is torn apart by tidal forces. We have recently learned that up to 40% of all TDEs emit in radio years after the initial disruption despite not showing any radio emission at earlier times. This emission has a diversity of light curves and properties, and its cause is not clear, but has been attributed to second outflows, off-axis jets, delayed formation of the accretion disc, and other possibilities. In this talk, I will discuss the latest results from our radio survey for late-time emission from TDEs using the VLA, ATCA, MeerKAT, and other telescopes. I will discuss new trends we are seeing in the population, and highlight new results on the remarkable AT2018hyz, which has been rising since its radio discovery 2.5 years post-disruption and has now reached similar luminosity to the jetted TDE population. Finally, as time allows I will share new results and insights from our VLBI campaign to study late-time TDEs, which can provide details on the geometry of TDE outflows.

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