1999ApJ...514..180U

Tidal disruption flares are differentiated into two classes: those that are sub-Eddington and those that radiate near the Eddington limit. Flares from black holes above ∼2x10⁷ M_☉ will generally not radiate above the Eddington limit. For a Schwarzschild black hole, the maximum bolometric luminosity of a tidal disruption is ∼L_Edd5x10⁷ M_☉, which is substantially below the Eddington luminosities of the most massive disrupting black holes (∼2x10⁸ M_☉). Bolometric corrections to the spectra of the brightest flares are found to be large, ∼7.5 mag. Nevertheless, the brightest flares are likely to have absolute magnitudes in excess of -19 in V and -21 in U (in the absence of reddening). Because the spectra are so blue, K-corrections may actually brighten the flares in optical bands. If such flares are as frequent as believed, they may soon be detected in low- or high-redshift supernovae searches. The He II ionizing radiation produced in the flares may dominate that which is produced by all other sources in the centers of quiescent galaxies, creating a steady state, highly ionized, fossil nebula with an extent of ∼1 kpc that may be observable in recombination lines.