Dacheng Lin

Sponsor: NASA

Unraveling the Final Stage of a Unique Hard Tidal Disruption Event 

This project studies what happens when a star gets too close to a massive black hole and is torn apart by gravitational forces—an event called a tidal disruption. Using the Chandra X-ray telescope, researchers will observe a recently discovered nearby event that showed unusual behavior, aiming to understand the mechanisms that produce high-energy X-rays long after the initial disruption. These rare observations help scientists learn about dormant black holes and extreme astrophysical processes like jet formation and super-energetic accretion.