Presentation #406.02 in the session Stellar & Compact Objects III.
Close encounters between a stellar-mass black hole and a star occurs frequently in dense star clusters or in the disks of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Recent studies have shown that in highly eccentric close encounters, the star can be tidally disrupted by the BH (micro-tidal disruption events), resulting in rapid mass accretion and possible bright electromagnetic signatures. Here we consider a scenario in which the star might approach the stellar-mass BH in a gradual, nearly circular inspiral, under the influence of dynamical friction on a circum-binary gas disk. We perform hydro-dynamical simulaions of this scenario using the SPH code PHANTOM. We find that the mass of the star is slowly stripped away by the BH. We call this gradual tidal disruption a “tidal-peeling event”, or a TPE. Depending on the initial distance and eccentricity of the encounter, TPEs might exhibit significant accretion rates and orbital evolution distinct from those of a typical (eccentric) micro-TDE.