Coupled Disk-star Evolution in Galactic Nuclei and the Lifetimes of QPE Sources

Abstract A modest fraction of the stars in galactic nuclei fed toward the central supermassive black hole (SMBH) approach on low-eccentricity orbits driven by gravitational-wave radiation (extreme mass ratio inspiral (EMRI)). In the likely event that a gaseous accretion disk is created in the nucleus during this slow inspiral (e.g., via an independent tidal disruption event (TDE)), star–disk collisions generate regular short-lived flares consistent with the observed quasiperiodic eruption (QPE) sources. We present a model for the coupled star-disk evolution, which self-consistently accounts for mass and thermal energy injected into the disk from stellar collisions and associated mass ablation. For weak collision/ablation heating, the disk is thermally unstable and undergoes limit-cycle oscillations, which modulate its properties and lead to accretion-powered outbursts on timescales of years to decades, with a time-averaged accretion rate ∼0.1Ṁ Edd. Stronger collision/ablation heating acts to stabilize the disk, enabling roughly steady accretion at the EMRI-stripping rate. In either case, the stellar destruction time through ablation, and hence the maximum QPE lifetime, is ∼10 2 –10 3 yr, far longer than fallback accretion after a TDE. The quiescent accretion disks in QPE sources may at the present epoch be self-sustaining and fed primarily by EMRI ablation. Indeed, the observed range of secular variability broadly matches those predicted for collision-fed disks. Changes in the QPE recurrence pattern following such outbursts, similar to that observed in GSN 069, could arise from temporary misalignment between the EMRI-fed disk and the SMBH equatorial plane as the former regrows its mass after a state transition.