Rates of Stellar Tidal Disruption as Probes of the Supermassive Black Hole Mass Function

Understand

Rates of stellar tidal disruption events (TDEs) by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) due to two-body relaxation are calculated using a large galaxy sample (N=146) in order to explore the sensitivity of the TDE rates to observational uncertainties, such as the parametrization of galaxy light profiles and the stellar mass function.

• The largest uncertainty arises due to the poorly constrained occupation fraction of SMBHs in low-mass galaxies, which otherwise dominate the total TDE rate.
• The detection rate of TDE flares by optical surveys is calculated as a function of SMBH mass and other observables for several physically-motivated models of TDE emission.
• We also quantify the fraction of galaxies that produce deeply penetrating disruption events.