A systematic analysis of the X-ray emission in optically selected tidal disruption events: observational evidence for the unification of the optically and X-ray selected populations

We present a systematic analysis of the X-ray emission of a sample of 17 optically selected, X-ray-detected tidal disruption events (TDEs) discovered between 2014 and 2021. The X-ray light curves show a diverse range of temporal behaviors, with most sources not following the expected power-law decline. The X-ray spectra are mostly extremely soft and consistent with thermal emission from the innermost region of an accretion disk, which cools as the accretion rate decreases. Three sources show formation of a hard X-ray corona, at late-times. The spectral energy distribution shape, probed by the ratio (L_ BB/L_ X) between the UV/optical and X-ray, shows a wide range L_ BB/L_ X ∈ (0.5, 3000) at early-times, and converges to disk-like values L_ BB/L_ X ∈ (0.5, 10) at late-times. We estimate the fraction of optically discovered TDEs with L_ X ≥ 10^42 erg s^-1 to be at least 40%, and show that X-ray loudness is independent of black hole mass. We argue that distinct disk formation time scales are unlikely to fully explain the diverse range of X-ray evolutions. We combine our sample with X-ray discovered ones to construct an X-ray luminosity function, best fitted by a broken power-law, with a break at L_ X≈ 10^44 erg s^-1. We show that there is no dichotomy between optically and X-ray selected TDEs, instead there is a continuum of early time L_ BB/L_ X, at least as wide as L_ BB/L_ X ∈ (0.1, 3000), with optical/X-ray surveys selecting preferentially, but not exclusively, from the higher/lower end of the distribution. Our findings are consistent with unification models for the overall TDE population.