GBT26A-580

A Search for Luminous Radio Bursts from a Repeating Tidal Disruption Event

Abstract

AT 2022dbl is a repeating tidal disruption event (TDE), where two remarkably similar optical-ultraviolet flares have been observed. The most likely explanation for AT 2022dbl's two flares is a repeated disruption of the same star, with at least the first disruption being partial. We request a series of GBT filler observations of AT 2022dbl during the 2025B and 2026A semesters to search for luminous radio bursts before, near, and after the predicted time of the third flare. Our GBT observations will provide new insights into the interplay between coherent emission, accretion, and tidal disruption. These observations will also be used constrain TDE models that predict some short-lived repeating fast radio bursts (FRBs) are triggered by stellar disruptions around massive black holes. Detecting a luminous radio pulse from AT 2022dbl would be a major discovery, offering a rare opportunity to probe the physics of accretion in TDEs and to potentially identify new links with other classes of radio transients.

Investigators

Name	Institution
GBT Operator	Green Bank Observatory
Aaron Pearlman *	Massachusetts Institute of Technology; McGill University; California Institute of Technology

* indicates the PI