Observational Evidence of a Centi-parsec Supermassive Black Hole Binary Existing in the Nearby Galaxy M81

Autor: Wu Jiang, Zhiqiang Shen, Ivan Martí-Vidal, Zhen Yan, Lei Huang, Roman Gold, Ya-Ping Li, Fuguo Xie, Noriyuki Kawaguchi
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: The Astrophysical Journal, Vol 959, Iss 1, p 11 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1538-4357
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad063d
Popis: Studying a centi-parsec supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) would allow us to explore a new parameter space in active galactic nuclei, and these objects are also potential sources of gravitational waves. We report evidence that an SMBHB with an orbital period of ∼30 yr may be resident in the nearby galactic nucleus M81. This orbital period and the known mass of M81 imply an orbital separation of ∼0.02 pc. The jet emanating from the primary black hole showed a short period of jet wobbling at ∼16.7 yr, superposing a long-term precession at a timescale of several hundred years. Periodic radio and X-ray outbursts were also found two times per orbital period, which could be explained by a double-peaked mass accretion rate variation per binary orbit. If confirmed, M81 would be one of the closest SMBHB candidates, providing a rare opportunity to study the final parsec problem .
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