Accretion onto Stars in the Disks of Active Galactic Nuclei
  Disks of gas accreting onto supermassive black holes are thought to power
active galactic nuclei (AGN). Stars may form in gravitationally unstable
regions of these disks, or may be captured from nuclear star clusters. Because
of the dense gas environment, the evolution of such embedded stars can diverge
dramatically from those in the interstellar medium. This work extends previous
studies of stellar evolution in AGN disks by exploring a variety of ways that
accretion onto stars in AGN disks may differ from Bondi accretion. We find that
tidal effects from the supermassive black hole significantly alter the
evolution of stars in AGN disks, and that our results do not depend critically
on assumptions about radiative feedback on the accretion stream. Thus, in
addition to depending on $\rho/c_s^3$, the fate of stars in AGN disks depends
sensitively on the distance to and mass of the supermassive black hole. This
affects where in the disk stellar explosions occur, where compact remnants form
and potentially merge to produce gravitational waves, and where different types
of chemical enrichment take place.
