Observational evidence suggests that massive black holes – with masses from about a hundred thousands to ten billion times the mass of the sun – inhabit the centre of many massive galaxies across the cosmic times. However, there is still poor understanding on how these objects grew and reached such high masses. In this framework, it is important to study the so-called intermediate mass black holes, with masses from hundreds to roughly hundred thousands the mass of the sun. These may inhabit the centre of less massive stellar systems and be more common at large distances from us, but they are much harder to observe via standard, electromagnetic telescopes. Yet, building a better knowledge on the population of intermediate mass black holes can inform us on what are the properties of the original seeds from which supermassive black holes have grown, and their growth history.
Supermassive black holes can not only grow by eating up gas in their vicinity, but also, they can disrupt and cannibalize stars passing too close to them; this phenomenon is called ‘tidal disruption event’. This latter growth channel has been poorly investigated in the scientific community, especially for intermediate mass black holes. These lighter objects can also grow through tidal disruption events, but most of the theory developed to study this accretion channel is only valid for the supermassive counterparts. TESIFA aims to investigate how efficiently intermediate mass black holes can grow through tidal disruption events. This will help us understand how long black holes last in the intermediate-mass category, and make predictions for future observatories able to detect tidal disruptions, such as Vera Rubin.
Furthermore, the knowledge developed in the project will be fundamental to foresee the events observed by future gravitational wave detectors, such as LISA and the Einstein Telescope; those will detect the merger between intermediate mass black holes, observing them directly for the first time.
