Extended Data Fig. 6: Time evolution of the spatial geometry of dissipation.
From: Stream–disk shocks as the origins of peak light in tidal disruption events
Panel (a): the dissipation radius \({r}_{{\rm{diss}}}=\int \,r\dot{E}dV/\int \dot{E}dV\). At early times, the primary site of dissipation is at small radii near stream pericenter. The dissipation radius grows slowly until ≈ 55 days, when it begins to increase in size at a much faster rate. Panel (b): time evolution of the average azimuthal dissipation angle ϕdiss. The color bar measures the dimensionless angular localization of dissipation, Rdiss ≤ 1. Both are calculated via the formulae \({{\bf{R}}}_{{\rm{diss}}}=\int \widehat{{\bf{r}}}\dot{E}dV/\int \dot{E}dV\) and \(\cos {\phi }_{{\rm{diss}}}={{\bf{R}}}_{{\rm{diss}}}\cdot \widehat{{\bf{x}}}/| {R}_{{\rm{diss}}}| \). At early times, the primary site of dissipation is localized at positive angles near and slightly downstream of stream pericenter (i.e. in material that is free-falling into its compression). The dissipation angle begins to oscillate strongly around and after t ≈ 55 days, and strongly delocalizes in angle.
