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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.09597 |
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Table of Contents:
- In galactic centers, stars and binaries can be injected into low-angular-momentum orbits, resulting in close encounters with the central supermassive black hole (SMBH). Previous works have shown that under different conditions, such close encounters can lead to the break-up of the binary, disruptions of both stars and collision between the stars. We use 3-body scattering experiments to characterize these different outcomes for a range of system parameters, such as $β_b$, the ratio of binary tidal radius to pericenter distance $r_p$ to the SMBH and the compactness of the binary. We focus on stellar collisions, which occur for a range of $β_b$'s, with a few to 10's percent probabilities (depending on the compactness of the binary). In gentle encounters ($β_b\lesssim 1$), stellar collisions occur after the pericenter passage, and the merger remnants are typically ejected from the SMBH at a small velocity. In deep encounters ($β_b\gtrsim 1$), collisions occur near the pericenter, with the impact velocity a few times the escape velocity of the star, and the merger remnants are typically bound to the SMBH. We suggest that stellar collisions induced by binary-SMBH encounters may produce exotic stars in galactic centers, trigger accretion flares onto the SMBH due to the mass loss, and result in bound merger remnants causing repeated partial TDEs.