Unlocking the QPE Mystery: Star-Disk Collisions in Realistic AGN Disks

Quasi-periodic eruptions (QPEs) are luminous, recurring soft X-ray outbursts observed in the nuclei of low-mass galaxies. They display two remarkable trends: outburst durations are about 10-20% of the recurrence timescale, and longer bursts are more luminous. A promising theory that naturally explains the quasi-periodicity invokes collisions between a star on an extreme mass-ratio inspiral (EMRI) orbit and the accretion disk around the supermassive black hole. However, it remains unclear how this model reproduces the observed trends. We therefore carry out two-dimensional, multi-frequency radiation hydrodynamic (RH) simulations of star--disk collisions. Crucially, we adopt a more realistic circumnuclear disk structure from previous Radiation MHD simulations of sub-Eddington accretion disks. We find that the thick, puffed-up disk atmosphere, extending to z/r about1, causes different portions of the bow shock to break out at different times, producing prolonged thermal emission as the shock emerges through the breakout surface at z/r about0.7. The X-ray flare duration is set by the shock propagation time through the optically thick disk--a about 10% of the orbital timescale, reproducing the observed duty cycle. A more oblique star-disk interaction yields a longer, more luminous flare. The realistic AGN disk models also exhibit a surface density Σ proportional to r squared, giving a collisional energy E proportional to P 2/3 that may explain the luminosity--period trend, especially for the weaker QPEs. Overall, we suggest that a more realistic circumnuclear disk structure can explain several observed QPE trends-and QPEs may, in turn, constrain the disk structure.