Assigned ID: 298 ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Fri Feb 26 10:42:22 GMT 2010) ----- HST Phase I Proposal 298 (proposal.apt) successfully submitted. ----- Attempting Submission 2 (Fri Feb 26 22:05:33 GMT 2010) ----- HST Phase I Proposal 298 (proposal.apt) successfully submitted. ----- Attempting Submission 3 (Fri Feb 26 23:49:45 GMT 2010) ----- High-resolution imaging and spectroscopy by HST have established that all classical bulges host a massive black hole (BH). The BH-bulge connection is less clear for lower mass BHs (~10^5-10^6 Msun) which inhabit lower mass galaxies, preferentially pseudobulges. The tidal disruption of stars produces a particularly unique probe of these BHs: if a star passes close to the BH, the BH's tidal gravity shreds it, releasing a flare of energy. Lower-mass BHs can produce extreme disruptions in which stellar debris feeds the BH at a rate far above the Eddington rate, producing an optically luminous outflow of gas. New optical transient surveys are expected to detect many of these tidal disruption events (TDEs) in the next few years. HST data will be critical to this endeavor: 1) ACS imaging to pinpoint candidates as nuclear, 2) STIS/COS spectroscopy to distinguish TDEs from other transient sources (we find UV lines to be the strongest discriminant), and 3) photometric and kinematic measurements of low-mass galaxies to enable calculations of tidal disruption rates. Our theoretical work will support HST's vital contribution to this method of studying massive BHs in galaxies. We will: 1) use photoionization calculations to predict the spectral signature of TDEs, particularly in the UV, and 2) use HST observations of pseudobulges to predict tidal disruption rates for low-mass BHs.

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