Related papers: The Search for Binary Supermassive Black Holes Amo…
We analyze spectra for a large sample of 578 Active Galactic Nuclei to examine the relationships between broad emission line properties and central supermassive black hole (SMBH) mass. We estimate SMBH masses by applying the virial theorem…
Supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) in galactic nuclei are thought to be a common by-product of major galaxy mergers. We use simple disk models for the circumbinary gas and for the binary-disk interaction to follow the orbital decay…
We present the results of a program to monitor the structure of the radio emission in 42 $\gamma$-ray bright blazars (31 quasars and 11 BL Lac objects) with the VLBA at 43, 22, and occasionally 15 and 8.4 GHz, over the period from November…
We report preliminary results of a visual inspection of ~4300 deg$^2$ covered by 4414 images of the 3-GHz VLA Sky Survey (VLASS, epoch 1.1) in search of extended radio structures. Over 7600 positions were registered, and for a subset of 270…
We present the first results from long-term high-cadence spectroscopic monitoring of 15 PG quasars with relatively strong Fe II emission as a part of a broader reverberation mapping campaign performed with the Calar Alto Observatory 2.2m…
Stellar mass black hole binaries have individual masses between 10-80 solar masses. These systems may emit gravitational waves at frequencies detectable at Megaparsec distances by space-based gravitational wave observatories. In a previous…
Direct measurements of the masses of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are key to understanding their growth and constrain their symbiotic relationship to their host galaxies. However, current methods used to directly measure black hole…
We examine spectral properties of the SDSS quasar J093201.60+031858.7, in particular the presence of strong blue peaks in the Balmer emission lines offset from the narrow lines by approximately 4200 km/s. Asymmetry in the broad central…
We compile black hole (BH) masses for $\sim 60,000$ quasars in the redshift range $0.1 \lesssim z \lesssim 4.5$ included in the Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), using virial BH mass estimators based on the \hbeta,…
We present a milliarcsecond-resolution radio survey of 17 high-redshift (4 < z < 5.4) blazar candidates observed with the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Network at 5 GHz. The primary objective of this study was to…
Some quasars show Doppler shifted broad emission line peaks. I give new statistics of the occurrence of these peaks and show that, while the most spectacular cases are in quasars with strong radio jets inclined to the line of sight, they…
Beyond LISA, proposed space-based gravitational wave (GW) missions aim to explore the sub-millihertz to microhertz frequency band, with one key objective being the detection of massive binary black hole (MBBH) mergers across cosmic…
We studied the spectra of six $z \sim 2.2$ quasars obtained with the X-shooter spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope. The redshift of these sources and X-shooter's spectral coverage allow us to cover the rest spectral range $\sim1200 -…
If binaries consisting of two 100 Msun black holes exist they would serve as extraordinarily powerful gravitational-wave sources, detectable to redshifts of z=2 with the advanced LIGO/Virgo ground-based detectors. Large uncertainties about…
Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) may eventually be able to detect not only the stochastic gravitational-wave (GW) background of SMBH binaries, but also individual, particularly massive binaries whose signals stick out above the background. In…
A long standing goal in astrophysics is to directly observe the immediate environment of a black hole with angular resolution comparable to the event horizon. Realizing this goal would open a new window on the study of General Relativity in…
We present a catalog of broad H$\beta$ variability properties for all spectra of quasars with $z<0.8$ and at least two observations included in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 16 quasar catalog. For each spectrum, we…
We present a new observational test to identify massive black hole binaries in large multi-epoch spectroscopical catalogues and to probe the real nature of already proposed binary candidates. The test is tailored for binaries with…
Much progress has been made in measuring black hole (BH) masses in (non-active) galactic nuclei using the tight correlation between stellar velocity dispersions (sigma) in galaxies and the mass of their central BH. The use of this…
Observations of high-redshift quasars hosting billion solar mass black holes at $z\gtrsim6$ challenge our understanding of early supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth. In this work, we conduct a near-infrared spectroscopic study of $19$…