Quasi-periodic flares from star-accretion-disc collisions

Abstract

We present simulated results of quasi-periodic flares generated by the inelastic collisions of a star bound to a supermassive black hole and its attendant accretion disc. We show that the behaviour of the quasi-periodicity is affected by the mass and spin of the black hole and the orbital elements of the stellar orbit. We also evaluate the possibility of extracting useful information on these parameters and verifying the character of the Kerr metric from such quasi-periodic signals. Comparisons are made with the observed optical outbursts of OJ 287, infrared flares from the Galactic Centre and X-ray variability in RE J1034+396. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 RAS.