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Explore the systematic discovery of supermassive black holes through tidal disruption events in this astrophysics colloquium lecture. Learn how large optical time-domain surveys have revolutionized the detection of transient flares caused when stars are tidally disrupted by supermassive black holes, providing crucial insights into accretion physics and revealing otherwise quiescent black holes. Discover the ongoing work with the Zwicky Transient Facility to increase tidal disruption event discovery rates, enabling searches for massive black holes in previously unexplored environments including dwarf galaxies and non-central locations within host galaxies. Examine the recent discovery and characterization of TDE AT 2024tvd, which revealed a wandering supermassive black hole located 0.8 kiloparsecs from its host galaxy nucleus. Understand how current survey methodologies will be applied to the upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time with the Rubin Observatory to advance our understanding of black hole populations and their environments.
