The physical origin of active galactic nucleus (AGN) variability remains unclear. Here we propose that the magnetic reconnection induced by the migration of satellite black holes (sBHs) in the AGN disk can be a new plausible mechanism for AGN short-term variability. During the sBH migration, the co-moving plasmas surrounding the sBH could influence the large-scale magnetic field of the AGN disk and trigger the magnetic reconnections to contribute to AGN UV/optical variability. Meanwhile, high-magnetization plasmas are more likely to escape the disk and cause a secondary magnetic reconnection in the corona. For a ∼102−103M⊙ sBH in the inner regions of the disk surrounding a supermassive black hole with ∼107M⊙, the reconnection process occurred in the space out of the disk should produce X-ray emission, which can last ∼103−106s with the luminosity ∼1038−1042ergs−1.
@article{arxiv.2501.10095,
title = {Variabilities driven by satellite black hole migration in AGN disks},
author = {Jing-Tong Xing and Tong Liu and Bao-Quan Huang and Mouyuan Sun},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.10095},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
11 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ