Modeling Tidal Disruption Events and Compact Object Plunges in Nuclear Star Clusters

Philip Cho, Kai Wu, Francesco Flammini Dotti, Taras Panamarev, Rainer Spurzem

2025

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DOI 10.1017/s1743921325104067
Data confidence 85 high
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Abstract

Abstract We study tidal disruption events (TDEs) and compact object inspirals in nuclear star clusters (NSCs) hosting a central supermassive black hole (SMBH), focusing on their role in SMBH growth. Using the STARDISK version of the direct N -body code NBODY6++GPU , we perform pilot simulations with two improved models: one for mass fallback from TDEs and another for compact object plunges based on orbital decay timescales. Our results show that mass accretion via TDEs peaks within the first 2 Myr and decreases more rapidly for higher initial SMBH masses, with roughly half the disrupted stellar debris being accreted. Compact object accretion is confined mostly to orbits with pericenters between 4 and 27 Schwarzschild radii and is suppressed by an order of magnitude when inspiral criteria are applied.