Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:32:06.861Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The capture of main sequence stars and giant stars by a massive black hole

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2006

Y. Lu
Affiliation:
National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China email: ly@bao.ac.cn
Y. F Huang
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Z. Zheng
Affiliation:
National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China email: ly@bao.ac.cn
S. N. Zhang
Affiliation:
Physics Department and Center for Astrophysics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Since the mass-radius relation is quite different for a main sequence (MS) star and a giant (G) star, we find that the radiation efficiencies in the star capture processes by a black hole (BH) are also very different. This may provide a useful way to distinguish the capture of MS and G stars. Comparing with observations of the very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emissions, we argue the event that triggers the gamma-ray emission in the energy range 4–40 TeV should be a G star capture. On the other hand, the capture of MS stars by the massive BH is required when the measured spectrum of VHE gamma-rays extends from 109 to 1015 eV.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

References

Aharonian, F. A. & Neronov, A. 2005, ApJ, 619, 306CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joss, P. C., Rappaport, S. & Lewis, W. 1987, ApJ, 319, 180CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, L. X., Narayan, R. & Menou, K. 2002, ApJ, 576, 753CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, Y., Cheng, K. S. & Huang, Y. F. 2006, ApJ, 641, 288CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phinney, E. S. 1989, Nature, 340, 595CrossRefGoogle Scholar