The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is on track to produce the firststatistically significant sample of tidal disruption events (TDEs) from a singlesurvey, with a projection of virgul100 TDEs discovered over the 3 year survey. ThisZTF TDE sample will enable a robust measurement of the TDE rate, and a mappingof TDE light curves to physical parameters such as central black hole mass.However, the nature of the optical emission remains a mystery, and appears to bedistinct from the soft X-ray component associated with the accretion of thestellar debris through a newly formed disk. We propose to continue oursuccessful AO-17 XMM-Newton follow-up program for ZTF TDEs, in order to measureevolution of the optical to X-ray for a large sample of TDEs discovered promptly after disruption.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2019-03-16T05:19:11Z/2020-05-03T02:33:45Z
Version
18.02_20200221_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earths atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.
European Space Agency, Prof Suvi Gezari, 2021, 'Probing the Accretion Timescales in Tidal Disruption Events with ZTF and XMM', 18.02_20200221_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-qw63wzg
