Quasars Can Signpost Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are found in the centers of massive galaxies, and galaxy mergers should eventually lead to SMBH mergers. Quasar activity has long been associated with galaxy mergers, so here we investigate if supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) are preferentially found in quas...
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| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adce05 |
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| author | J. Andrew Casey-Clyde Chiara M. F. Mingarelli Jenny E. Greene Andy D. Goulding Siyuan Chen Jonathan R. Trump |
| author_facet | J. Andrew Casey-Clyde Chiara M. F. Mingarelli Jenny E. Greene Andy D. Goulding Siyuan Chen Jonathan R. Trump |
| author_sort | J. Andrew Casey-Clyde |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are found in the centers of massive galaxies, and galaxy mergers should eventually lead to SMBH mergers. Quasar activity has long been associated with galaxy mergers, so here we investigate if supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) are preferentially found in quasars. Our multimessenger investigation folds together a gravitational-wave background signal from NANOGrav, a sample of periodic active galactic nucleus candidates from the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey, and a quasar mass function, to estimate an upper limit on the fraction of quasars which could host an SMBHB. We find at 95% confidence that quasars are at most 5 times as likely to host an SMBHB as a random galaxy. Pulsar timing arrays may therefore be more likely to find SMBHBs by prioritizing quasars over a random selection of galaxies in their searches. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3b1373d38131460d9c3fb7ea32cc7c28 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-3b1373d38131460d9c3fb7ea32cc7c282025-08-20T03:28:29ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01987210610.3847/1538-4357/adce05Quasars Can Signpost Supermassive Black Hole BinariesJ. Andrew Casey-Clyde0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5557-4007Chiara M. F. Mingarelli1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4307-1322Jenny E. Greene2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5612-3427Andy D. Goulding3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4700-663XSiyuan Chen4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3118-5963Jonathan R. Trump5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1410-0470Department of Physics, University of Connecticut , 196 Auditorium Road, U-3046, Storrs, CT 06269-3046, USA ; andrew.casey-clyde@uconn.edu; Department of Physics, Yale University , 217 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USADepartment of Physics, Yale University , 217 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USADepartment of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , Peyton Hall, 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USADepartment of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , Peyton Hall, 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USAShanghai Astronomical Observatory , Chinese Academy of Sciences, 80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030, People’s Republic of China; Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University , 5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing 100871, People’s Republic of ChinaDepartment of Physics, University of Connecticut , 196 Auditorium Road, U-3046, Storrs, CT 06269-3046, USA ; andrew.casey-clyde@uconn.eduSupermassive black holes (SMBHs) are found in the centers of massive galaxies, and galaxy mergers should eventually lead to SMBH mergers. Quasar activity has long been associated with galaxy mergers, so here we investigate if supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) are preferentially found in quasars. Our multimessenger investigation folds together a gravitational-wave background signal from NANOGrav, a sample of periodic active galactic nucleus candidates from the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey, and a quasar mass function, to estimate an upper limit on the fraction of quasars which could host an SMBHB. We find at 95% confidence that quasars are at most 5 times as likely to host an SMBHB as a random galaxy. Pulsar timing arrays may therefore be more likely to find SMBHBs by prioritizing quasars over a random selection of galaxies in their searches.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adce05Gravitational wave astronomyGravitational wavesQuasarsSupermassive black holes |
| spellingShingle | J. Andrew Casey-Clyde Chiara M. F. Mingarelli Jenny E. Greene Andy D. Goulding Siyuan Chen Jonathan R. Trump Quasars Can Signpost Supermassive Black Hole Binaries The Astrophysical Journal Gravitational wave astronomy Gravitational waves Quasars Supermassive black holes |
| title | Quasars Can Signpost Supermassive Black Hole Binaries |
| title_full | Quasars Can Signpost Supermassive Black Hole Binaries |
| title_fullStr | Quasars Can Signpost Supermassive Black Hole Binaries |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quasars Can Signpost Supermassive Black Hole Binaries |
| title_short | Quasars Can Signpost Supermassive Black Hole Binaries |
| title_sort | quasars can signpost supermassive black hole binaries |
| topic | Gravitational wave astronomy Gravitational waves Quasars Supermassive black holes |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adce05 |
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