Related papers: A systematic search for massive black hole binarie…
We present new spectroscopic observations that are part of our continuing monitoring campaign of 88 quasars at z<0.7 whose broad H$\beta$ lines are offset from their systemic redshifts by a few thousand km/s. These quasars have been…
Theoretically, bound binaries of massive black holes are expected as the natural outcome of mergers of massive galaxies. From the observational side, however, massive black hole binaries remain elusive. Velocity shifts between narrow and…
We have examined the radial velocity data for stars spectroscopically observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) more than once to investigate the incidence of spectroscopic binaries, and to evaluate the accuracy of the SDSS stellar…
We perform a systematic search for sub-parsec binary supermassive black holes (BHs) in normal broad line quasars at z<0.8, using multi-epoch SDSS spectroscopy of the broad Hbeta line. Our working model is that: only one of the two BHs in…
[ABRIDGED] We have carried out a systematic search for close supermassive black hole binaries among z < 0.7 SDSS quasars Such binaries are predicted by models of supermassive black hole and host galaxy co-evolution, therefore their census…
Supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHs) are expected to result from galaxy mergers, and thus are natural byproducts (and probes) of hierarchical structure formation in the Universe. They are also the primary expected source of…
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…
Supermassive binary black holes (SMBBHs) are the anticipated byproducts of galaxy mergers and play a pivotal role in shaping galaxy evolution, gravitational wave emissions, and accretion physics. Despite their theoretical prevalence, direct…
Most massive galaxies contain a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at their center. When galaxies merge, their SMBHs sink to the center of the new galaxy where they are thought to eventually merge. During this process an SMBH binary is formed.…
We have been spectroscopically monitoring 88 quasars selected to have broad H$\beta$ emission lines offset from their systemic redshift by thousands of km s$^{-1}$. By analogy with single-lined spectroscopic binary stars, we consider these…
We present a systematic search for periodically varying quasar and supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) candidates in the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey. From $\sim9,000$ color-selected quasars in a $\sim50$ deg$^{2}$ sky area, we…
Supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries are expected in a Lambda CDM cosmology given that most (if not all) massive galaxies contain a massive black hole at their center. So far, however, direct evidence for such binaries has been elusive.…
We report the discovery of 31 new redshifted broad absorption line quasars (RSBALs) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The number of previously known such objects is 19. The identification of the new objects was enabled by…
We present a photometric FUV to Ks-band study of the field around quasar SDSS J092712.65+294344.0. The SDSS spectrum of this object shows various emission lines with two distinct redshifts, at z=0.699 and z=0.712. Because of this peculiar…
One of the proposed explanations for the broad, double-peaked Balmer emission lines observed in the spectra of some active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is that they are associated with sub-parsec supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries. Here, we…
Double-peaked emission lines are believed to be originated from accretion disks around supermassive black holes (SMBHs), and about 3% of z<0.33 AGNs are found to be double-peaked emitters. The quasar SDSS J153636.22+044127.0 has recently…
We review the properties of 40 X-ray binaries that contain either a confirmed black hole or a black hole candidate. After discussing briefly the significance of these Galactic black holes to both astronomy and physics, we present basic data…
We present AGN from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) having double-peaked profiles of [OIII] 5007,4959 and other narrow emission-lines, motivated by the prospect of finding candidate binary AGN. These objects were identified by means of…
Hierarchical assembly models predict a population of supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries. These are not resolvable by direct imaging but may be detectable via periodic variability (or nanohertz frequency gravitational waves). Following…
We have examined a subset of 11 active galactic nuclei (AGN) drawn from a sample of 87 objects that possess double-peaked optical emission line spectra, as put forward by Wang et al. (2009a) and are detectable in the FIRST survey at radio…