SDSS J0159+0105: a radio-quiet quasar with a centi-parsec supermassive black hole binary candidate

Journal Article · Wed Aug 10 04:00:00 EDT 2016 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/827/1/56· OSTI ID:22868795

Zheng, Zhen-Ya; Chen, Xian; Cuadra, Jorge ^[1]; Butler, Nathaniel R. ^[2]; Shen, Yue ^[3]; Jiang, Linhua ^[4]; Wang, Jun-Xian ^[5]

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1. Instituto de Astrofisica, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, 7820436 Santiago (Chile)
2. School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 (United States)
3. Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801 (United States)
4. The Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871 (China)
5. CAS Key laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China)

We report a candidate centi-parsec supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) in the radio-quiet quasar SDSS J0159+0105 at z = 0.217. With a modified Lomb–Scargle code (GLSdeDRW) and auto-correlation analysis, we detect two significant (at P > 99%) periodic signals at ∼741 day and ∼1500 day from the 8.1 yr Catalina V-band light curve of this quasar. The period ratio, which is close to 1:2, is typical of a black hole binary system with a mass ratio of 0.05 < q < 0.8 according to recent numerical simulations. SDSS J0159+0105 has two SDSS spectroscopic observations separated by ∼10 yr. There is a significant change in the broad Hβ profile between the two epochs, which can be explained by a single broad-line region (BLR) around the binary system illuminated by the aforementioned mini-disks, or a stream of gas flowing from the circumbinary disk to one of the SMBHs. From the single BLR assumption and the orbital period t {sub orb} ∼ 1500 day, we estimate the total virial masses of M {sub SMBHB} ∼ 1.3 × 10{sup 8} M {sub ⊙}, the average distances of BLR of ∼0.04 pc (∼50 lt-day, with ±0.3 dex uncertainty), and an SMBHB separation of d = (0.01 pc)M{sub 8,tot}{sup 1/3} (T {sub rest}/3.3 yr){sup 2/3} ∼ 0.013 pc (15 lt-day). Based on analytical work, the postulated circumbinary disk has an inner radius of 2d = 0.026 pc (30 lt-day). SDSS J0159+0105 also displays unusual spectral energy distribution. The unique properties of SDSS J0159+0105 are consistent with it being a centi-parsec SMBHB.

• OSTI ID: 22868795
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 827; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
BLACK HOLES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DISTANCE
ENERGY SPECTRA
GAS FLOW
PERIODICITY
QUASARS
STREAMS