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What Can Happen When a Rapidly Spinning Star Meets a Black Hole?

A hydrodynamical simulation of a star being ripped apart by the tidal forces of a supermassive black hole. How much material is ripped out determines the brightness of the resulting flare seen around the black hole. Credit: NASA/ S. Gezari (JHU)/ J. Guillochon (UCSC)

Astrophysicists at Syracuse University in New York think they’ve found a hitherto-hidden explanation for strange activity during so-called repeating partial Tidal Disruption Events (rpTDEs). These are interactions between a supermassive black hole and a star that wanders too close for comfort, but not close enough to get swallowed up.

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