Discovery of a candidate binary supermassive black hole in a periodic quasar from circumbinary accretion variability Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Abstract 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=16077days) at 99.95% significance (with a global p-value of 103 accounting for the look elsewhere effect) in the optical light curves of a redshift 1.53 quasar, SDSSJ025214.67002813.7. 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 PG1302102. 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.

published proceedings

  • MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

altmetric score

  • 2.25

author list (cited authors)

  • Liao, W., Chen, Y., Liu, X., Holgado, A. M., Guo, H., Gruendl, R., ... Walker, A.

citation count

  • 14

complete list of authors

  • Liao, Wei-Ting||Chen, Yu-Ching||Liu, Xin||Holgado, A Miguel||Guo, Hengxiao||Gruendl, Robert||Morganson, Eric||Shen, Yue||Davis, Tamara||Kessler, Richard||Martini, Paul||McMahon, Richard G||Allam, Sahar||Annis, James||Avila, Santiago||Banerji, Manda||Bechtol, Keith||Bertin, Emmanuel||Brooks, David||Buckley-Geer, Elizabeth||Rosell, Aurelio Carnero||Kind, Matias Carrasco||Carretero, Jorge||Castander, Francisco Javier||Cunha, Carlos||D’Andrea, Chris||da Costa, Luiz||Davis, Christopher||De Vicente, Juan||Desai, Shantanu||Diehl, H Thomas||Doel, Peter||Eifler, Tim||Evrard, August||Flaugher, Brenna||Fosalba, Pablo||Frieman, Josh||Garcia-Bellido, Juan||Gaztanaga, Enrique||Glazebrook, Karl||Gruen, Daniel||Gschwend, Julia||Gutierrez, Gaston||Hartley, Will||Hollowood, Devon L||Honscheid, Klaus||Hoyle, Ben||James, David||Krause, Elisabeth||Kuehn, Kyler||Lima, Marcos||Maia, Marcio||Marshall, Jennifer||Menanteau, Felipe||Miquel, Ramon||Malagń, Andrés Plazas||Roodman, Aaron||Sanchez, Eusebio||Scarpine, Vic||Schubnell, Michael||Serrano, Santiago||Smith, Mathew||Smith, R Chris||Soares-Santos, Marcelle||Sobreira, Flavia||Suchyta, Eric||Swanson, Molly||Tarle, Gregory||Vikram, Vinu||Walker, Alistair

publication date

  • October 2021