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Title: Discovery of a Candidate Binary Supermassive Black Hole in a Periodic Quasar from Circumbinary Accretion Variability

Journal Article · · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
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  1. Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA;National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 605 East Springfield Avenue, Champaign, IL 61820, USA
  2. National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 605 East Springfield Avenue, Champaign, IL 61820, USA
  3. School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland, QLD 4072 Australia
  4. Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA;Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
  5. Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA;Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, The Ohio State University, 191 West Woodfuff Avenue, Columbus OH, 43210, USA
  6. Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK;Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
  7. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P. O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510, USA
  8. Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, PO1 3FX, UK
  9. LSST, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
  10. CNRS, UMR 7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, F-75014, Paris, France;Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 7095, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, F-75014, Paris, France
  11. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
  12. Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Madrid, Spain;Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia - LIneA, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 20921-400, Brazil
  13. Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona) Spain
  14. Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), 08034 Barcelona, Spain;Institute of Space Sciences (ICE, CSIC), Campus UAB, Carrer de Can Magrans, s/n, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
  15. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, P. O. Box 2450, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
  16. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
  17. Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia - LIneA, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 20921-400, Brazil;Observatório Nacional, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 20921-400, Brazil
  18. Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Madrid, Spain
  19. Department of Physics, IIT Hyderabad, Kandi, Telangana 502285, India
  20. Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721-0065, USA;Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
  21. Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA;Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
  22. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P. O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510, USA;Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
  23. Instituto de Fisica Teorica UAM/CSIC, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
  24. Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Victoria 3122, Australia
  25. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, P. O. Box 2450, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA;SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
  26. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK;Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 16, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland
  27. Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
  28. Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics, The Ohio State University, 191 West Woodfuff Avenue, Columbus OH, 43210, USA;Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
  29. Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstrasse, 85748 Garching, Germany;Universitäts-Sternwarte, Fakultät für Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München, Scheinerstr. 1, 81679 München, Germany
  30. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
  31. Department of Astronomy/Steward Observatory, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721-0065, USA
  32. Australian Astronomical Optics, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2113, Australia
  33. Departamento de Física Matemática, Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, CP 66318, São Paulo, SP, 05314-970, Brazil;Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia - LIneA, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 20921-400, Brazil
  34. George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
  35. Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, E-08010 Barcelona, Spain;Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona) Spain
  36. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
  37. Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics & Cosmology, P. O. Box 2450, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA;Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Victoria 3122, Australia
  38. Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
  39. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
  40. Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Casilla 603, La Serena, Chile
  41. Brandeis University, Physics Department, 415 South Street, Waltham MA 02453
  42. Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 13083-859, Campinas, SP, Brazil;Laboratório Interinstitucional de e-Astronomia - LIneA, Rua Gal. José Cristino 77, Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 20921-400, Brazil
  43. Computer Science and Mathematics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831
  44. Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Lemont, IL 60439, USA
+ Show Author Affiliations

Binary supermassive black holes (BSBHs) are expected to be a generic byproduct from hierarchical galaxy formation. The final coalescence of BSBHs is thought to be the loudest gravitational wave (GW) siren, yet no confirmed BSBH is known in the GW-dominated regime. While periodic quasars have been proposed as BSBH candidates, the physical origin of the periodicity has been largely uncertain. Here we report discovery of a periodicity (P=1607±7 days) at 99.95% significance (with a global p-value of ~10-3 accounting for the look elsewhere effect) in the optical light curves of a redshift 1.53 quasar, SDSS J025214.67-002813.7. Combining archival Sloan Digital Sky Survey data with new, sensitive imaging from the Dark Energy Survey, the total ~20-yr time baseline spans ~4.6 cycles of the observed 4.4-yr (restframe 1.7-yr) periodicity. The light curves are best fit by a bursty model predicted by hydrodynamic simulations of circumbinary accretion disks. The periodicity is likely caused by accretion rate modulation by a milli-parsec BSBH emitting GWs, dynamically coupled to the circumbinary accretion disk. A bursty hydrodynamic variability model is statistically preferred over a smooth, sinusoidal model expected from relativistic Doppler boost, a kinematic effect proposed for PG1302-102. Furthermore, the frequency dependence of the variability amplitudes disfavors Doppler boost, lending independent support to the circumbinary accretion variability hypothesis. Given our detection rate of one BSBH candidate from circumbinary accretion variability out of 625 quasars, it suggests that future large, sensitive synoptic surveys such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time may be able to detect hundreds to thousands of candidate BSBHs from circumbinary accretion with direct implications for Laser Interferometer Space Antenna.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP); Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Contributing Organization:
DES Collaboration
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-07CH11359; AC05-00OR22725; GBMF4561; NA0003864; AST-1715579; AST-1138766; AST-1536171; SC0019193; AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1674991
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1779064; OSTI ID: 1782223; OSTI ID: 1820801; OSTI ID: 1871574
Report Number(s):
arXiv:2008.12317; FERMILAB-PUB-20-234-AE; oai:inspirehep.net:1813881; TRN: US2203986
Journal Information:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 500, Issue 3; ISSN 0035-8711
Publisher:
Royal Astronomical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
black hole physics
galaxies: active
galaxies: high-redshift
galaxies: nuclei
quasars: general
surveys