Speaker
Description
We investigate the tidal stripping of a cold helium white dwarf (WD) by a stellar-mass black hole (BH). Due to the degenerate nature of the WD, we expect quantum effects to play a significant role in the dynamics. To capture these effects, we use a full quantum hydrodynamic framework to simulate the formation of the accretion disk. We model the WD as a Bose–Fermi droplet consisting of degenerate atomic bosons and fermions that interact attractively. We place the droplet in the field of a non-rotating BH. We use the Paczyński and Wiita pseudo-Newtonian potential.
Our numerical simulations show that the quantum matter captured by the BH after periastron passage acts as a source of intense electromagnetic emission. We also identify quantised vortices in the bosonic component of the accretion disk that could produce electromagnetic signatures. The formation of these vortices naturally explains the occurrence of flicker noise.