Related papers: Close supermassive binary black holes
Hierarchical models of galaxy formation predict that galaxy mergers represent a significant transitional stage of rapid supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth. Yet, the connection between the merging process and enhanced active galactic…
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…
The co-evolution of galaxies and the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at their centers via hierarchical galaxy mergers is a key prediction of $\Lambda$CDM cosmology. As gas and dust are funneled to the SMBHs during the merger, the SMBHs…
Binary supermassive black holes are produced by galactic mergers as the black holes from the two galaxies fall to the center of the merged system and form a bound pair. The two black holes will eventually coalesce in an enormous burst of…
Binary-black-hole (BBH) mergers can take place close to a supermassive black hole (SMBH) while being in a bound orbit around the SMBH. In this paper, we study such bound triple systems and show that including the strong gravity effects of…
We report spectropolarimetric observations of the quasar E1821+643 (z=0.297), which suggest that it may be an example of gravitational recoil due to anisotropic emission of gravitational waves following the merger of a supermassive black…
We explore the evolution of stellar mass black hole binaries (BHBs) which are formed in the self-gravitating disks of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Hardening due to three-body scattering and gaseous drag are effective mechanisms that reduce…
Many stellar-mass Black Holes (sBHs) are expected to orbit supermassive black holes at galactic centers. For galaxies with Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), it is likely that the sBHs reside in a disk. We study the formation of sBH binaries via…
Motivated by the increasing number of detections of merging black holes by LIGO-VIRGO-KAGRA, black hole (BH) binary mergers in the discs of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is investigated as a possible merger channel. In this pathway, BH…
We first present a short overview of X-ray probes of the black hole region of active galaxies (AGN) and then concentrate on the X-ray search for supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in optically non-active galaxies. The first part focuses on…
Using grid-based hydrodynamics simulations and analytic modeling, we compute the electromagnetic (EM) signatures of gravitational wave (GW) driven inspirals of massive black hole binaries that accrete gas from circumbinary disks, exploring…
We identify SDSS J153636.22+044127.0, a QSO discovered in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, as a promising candidate for a binary black hole system. This QSO has two broad-line emission systems separated by 3500 km/sec. The redder system at…
The AGN NGC~1566 is known to present dramatic and regular spectral shape changes, associated with the appearance and disappearance of broad emission lines. The underlying mechanism responsible for such changes is yet to be identified, but…
We present a model that explains some extreme variability phenomena observed in active galactic nuclei (AGN). In this model, an orbiting companion interacts with the accretion disk surrounding the central supermassive black hole (SMBH).…
We show that a 10 year Gaia mission could astrometrically detect the orbital motion of ~1 sub-parsec separation supermassive black hole binary in the heart of nearby, bright active galactic nuclei (AGN). Candidate AGN lie out to a redshift…
We report the discovery of a kiloparsec-scale triple supermassive black hole system at $z=0.256$: SDSS J1056+5516, discovered by our systematic search for binary quasars. The system contains three strong emission-line nuclei, which are…
[Abriged] Supermassive black holes (SMBH) lurk in the nuclei of most massive galaxies, perhaps in all of them. The tight observed scaling relations between SMBH masses and structural properties of their host spheroids likely indicate that…
A sample of 229618 narrow emission-line galaxies is used to establish two new unambiguous type of evidence for supermassive black holes at the center of their nuclei: 1) the Seyfert 2 galaxies and LINERs follow the same characteristic power…
Double-peaked [O III]5007, profiles in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) may provide evidence for the existence of dual AGNs, but a good diagnostic for selecting them is currently lacking. Starting from $\sim$ 7000 active galaxies in SDSS DR7,…
The quasar SDSS J153636.22+044127.0, exhibiting peculiar broad emission-line profiles with multiple components, was proposed as a candidate sub-parsec binary supermassive black hole system. More recently, imaging revealed two spatially…