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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Reconnection-driven Plasma Loading for Prompt Emission in Tidal Disruption Event Jets

  • Rin Oikawa1
  • Yuri Sato1
  1. 1Tohoku University
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Abstract

A tidal disruption event (TDE) occurs when a star passes sufficiently close to a black hole (BH) to be disrupted by its tidal forces. Although several hundred TDEs have been identified to date, only a small fraction launch relativistic jets. These jets are thought to be Poynting-flux-dominated outflows powered by the Blandford–Znajek (BZ) mechanism. However, the origin of the jet plasma required to account for the observed prompt emission remains poorly understood and constitutes a key unresolved problem in the formation of relativistic TDE jets. In this Letter, we propose magnetic reconnection near the BH as a physical mechanism for injecting plasma into the BZ jet during the super-Eddington accretion phase. Once sufficient magnetic flux accumulates near the BH, an equatorial current sheet forms, in which magnetic reconnection produces high-energy gamma rays. We demonstrate that photon–photon interactions generate a sufficient particle supply to account for the observed prompt emission. We further show that our plasma loading scenario allows the jet to remain magnetically dominated out to the prompt emission region and that magnetic dissipation can consistently reproduce the observed prompt emission properties. Furthermore, our scenario predicts MeV and GeV gamma-ray flares, providing a direct means of testing this scenario with future gamma-ray observatories.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{oikawa2026reconnectiondriven,
  title = {{Reconnection-driven Plasma Loading for Prompt Emission in Tidal Disruption Event Jets}},
  author = {Rin Oikawa and Yuri Sato},
  journal = {The Astrophysical Journal Letters},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/aeb36f},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aeb36f},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Reconnection-driven Plasma Loading for Prompt Emission in Tidal Disruption Event Jets
AU  - Rin Oikawa
AU  - Yuri Sato
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/23
JO  - The Astrophysical Journal Letters
DO  - 10.3847/2041-8213/aeb36f
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aeb36f
AB  - A tidal disruption event (TDE) occurs when a star passes sufficiently close to a black hole (BH) to be disrupted by its tidal forces. Although several hundred TDEs have been identified to date, only a small fraction launch relativistic jets. These jets are thought to be Poynting-flux-dominated outflows powered by the Blandford–Znajek (BZ) mechanism. However, the origin of the jet plasma required to account for the observed prompt emission remains poorly understood and constitutes a key unresolved problem in the formation of relativistic TDE jets. In this Letter, we propose magnetic reconnection near the BH as a physical mechanism for injecting plasma into the BZ jet during the super-Eddington accretion phase. Once sufficient magnetic flux accumulates near the BH, an equatorial current sheet forms, in which magnetic reconnection produces high-energy gamma rays. We demonstrate that photon–photon interactions generate a sufficient particle supply to account for the observed prompt emission. We further show that our plasma loading scenario allows the jet to remain magnetically dominated out to the prompt emission region and that magnetic dissipation can consistently reproduce the observed prompt emission properties. Furthermore, our scenario predicts MeV and GeV gamma-ray flares, providing a direct means of testing this scenario with future gamma-ray observatories.
SN  - 2041-8205
SN  - 2041-8213
ER  -