How a black hole tears apart or reshapes nearby binary stars

Simulating binary star systems on parabolic, hyperbolic, and elliptical orbits around a supermassive Kerr black hole, the authors map out four distinct scattering regimes — from gentle adiabatic passages to outright tidal disruption — depending on how loosely bound the binary is. For bound orbits, the classic von Zeipel-Lidov-Kozai oscillation that normally drives slow eccentricity cycles instead proceeds in sudden jumps triggered at each close approach, like a series of scattering events rather than a smooth oscillation. This unified picture of periapsis-driven tidal dynamics in galactic nuclei has direct implications for rates of stellar disruption events and gravitational wave source formation near galactic centers.