Elena Rossi - May 22, 2015 Tidal Disruption events as astrophysical laboratories Quiescent supermassive black holes can be occasionally active if stars or gas clouds happen to wonder too close to the black hole, where they are torn apart by tidal forces and accreted. In general, these events can indirectly constrain the presence and mass of supermassive black holes in quiescent galaxies beyond the local universe. They can also teach us about the bahaviour of transient accretion in the super Eddington limit and jet production. In this talk, I will review my work on both the dynamical and radiative properties of these events, with the ultimate goal to be able to exploit at best current and upcoming data.