April 16, 2024

Black Hole Star Destroyer: Scientists Fling Model Stars at a Virtual Black Hole to See Who Survives

This animation depicts a star experiencing spaghettification as its drawn in by a supermassive black hole throughout a tidal interruption event. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser
Enjoy as eight stars skirt a black hole 1 million times the mass of the Sun in these supercomputer simulations. As they approach, all are stretched and deformed by the black holes gravity.
Watch eight model stars stretch and warp as they approach a virtual black hole 1 million times the mass of the Sun. The black hole rips some stars apart into a stream of gas, a phenomenon called a tidal disruption event. These simulations reveal that damage and survival depend on the stars preliminary densities.
These simulations, led by Taeho Ryu, a fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany, are the very first to combine the physical impacts of Einsteins basic theory of relativity with sensible excellent density models. The virtual stars vary from about one-tenth to 10 times the Suns mass.

The division between stars that completely interfere with and those that sustain isnt just associated to mass. Rather, survival depends more on the stars density.
From delegated right, this illustration shows 4 photos of a virtual Sun-like star as it approaches a black hole with 1 million times the Suns mass. The star stretches, looses some mass, and after that starts to regain its shape as it moves away from the black hole. Credit: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center/Taeho Ryu (MPA).
Ryu and his team likewise examined how other attributes, such as various great void masses and excellent close techniques, affect tidal interruption events. The results will help astronomers approximate how typically full tidal interruptions happen in deep space and will help them in building more precise images of these calamitous cosmic incidents.
Reference: “Tidal Disruptions of Main-sequence Stars. I. Observable Quantities and Their Dependence on Stellar and Black Hole Mass” by Taeho Ryu, Julian Krolik, Tsvi Piran and Scott C. Noble, 25 November 2021, The Astrophysical Journal.DOI: 10.3847/ 1538-4357/ abb3cf.

View as eight stars skirt a black hole 1 million times the mass of the Sun in these supercomputer simulations. View 8 model stars stretch and deform as they approach a virtual black hole 1 million times the mass of the Sun. The black hole rips some stars apart into a stream of gas, a phenomenon called a tidal interruption event. From left to right, this illustration shows four pictures of a virtual Sun-like star as it approaches a black hole with 1 million times the Suns mass.