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Disappearing stars without a trace: what is their maximum angular momentum?

Disappearing stars without a trace: what is their maximum angular momentum?

Monday, April 19, 2021 at 4:00 pm
Zoom
Ariadna Murguia-Berthier (UCSC)

We have tentative evidence of massive stars that disappear without a bright transient. It is commonly argued that this massive stars have low angular momentum and can collapse into a black hole without significant feedback. In this talk I will make use of general-relativistic hydrodynamical simulations to understand the flow around a newly-formed black hole. I will discuss the angular momentum needed in order for the infalling material to be accreted into the black hole without forming a centrifugally supported structure, thus generating no effective feedback. If the feedback from the black hole is significant, the collapse can be halted and, as a result, it is likely followed by a bright transient. With the results from the simulation, I will constrain the maximum rotation rate for the disappearing massive progenitors know, and set a limit on the rate of expected disappearing stars.

Davide Lazzati