Multi-messenger astronomy with black holes: tidal disruption events

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of tidal disruption events, aiming to provide an overview of both the theoretical and the observational state of the field, with the overarching goal of introducing them as tools to indirectly observe massive black holes in the Universe. We start by introducing the relevant theoretical concepts, physical scales and timescales with an emphasis on the classical framework and how this has been (and continues to be) improved since the inception of the field. We then cover the current and future prospects of observing TDEs through a variety of messengers, including photons across the electromagnetic spectrum, as well as gravitational waves and neutrino particles. More recent advancements in the field, including repeating TDEs as well as TDEs by stellar-mass black holes, are also highlighted.