Related papers: Dark Matter Constraints from the Eccentric Superma…
We show that primordial (nearly) extremal black holes with a wide range of masses from the Planck scale to around $10^9$ g could be cosmologically stable and explain dark matter, given a dark electromagnetism and a heavy dark electron. For…
An XMM-Mewton observation performed in May 2008 has confirmed that the 13 seconds pulsations in the X-ray binary HD 49798/RX J0648.0-4418 are due to a rapidly rotating white dwarf. From the pulse time delays induced by the 1.55 days orbital…
The recent evidence for a nanohertz gravitational wave background from Pulsar Timing Arrays highlights the urgent need to identify electromagnetic counterparts to supermassive binary black holes. Here, we perform global 3D general…
Context. OJ287 is a quasar with a quasi-periodic optical light curve, with the periodicity observed for over 120 years. This has lead to a binary black hole model as a common explanation of the quasar. The radio jet of OJ287 has been…
We present observational evidence for three massive, accreting black holes in the $z=5.0167$ galaxy J0148-4214 from JWST/NIRSpec-IFU spectroscopy. The black holes are revealed through broad H$\alpha$ emission (FWHM = 430-2920 km/s) without…
The centre of the Milky Way hosts a supermassive black hole of 4 million solar masses called Sagittarius A*. This object has been observed for more than 20 years in the near infrared. This has confirmed some effects of General Relativity.…
We present analyses of Suzaku XIS light curves and spectra of the BL Lac object OJ 287 with observations positioned primarily around proposed recurrent optical outbursts. The first two observations were performed in 2007 April 10 - 13…
Stellar-mass black holes are discovered in X-ray emitting binary systems, where their mass can be determined from the dynamics of their companion stars. Models of stellar evolution have difficulty producing black holes in close binaries…
The coalescence of massive black hole binaries (with masses $10^4 - 10^7 M_{\odot}$) leads to gravitational wave emission that is detectable out to high redshifts ($z \sim 20$) with the forthcoming LISA observatory. We combine the…
Distinguishing the photon output of an accreting supermassive black hole binary system from that of a single supermassive black hole accreting at the same rate is intrinsically difficult because the majority of the light emerges from near…
We present medium-resolution optical spectroscopy with the SOAR telescope of the O star secondary of the high-mass gamma-ray binary 1FGL J1018.6-5856 to help determine whether the primary is a neutron star or black hole. We find that the…
Ultralight dark photons predicted in several Standard Model extensions can trigger the superradiant instability around rotating black holes if their Compton wavelength is comparable to the Blackhole radius. Consequently, the angular…
The blazar zone in quasars is commonly assumed to be located inside the broad-line region at some hundreds of Schwartzschild radii from the central black hole. Now, the simultaneous Fermi/LAT and MAGIC observations of a strong flare in the…
A strong hard X-ray luminosity from a blazar flags the presence of a very powerful jet. If the jet power is in turn related to the mass accretion rate, the most luminous hard X-ray blazars should pinpoint the largest accretion rates, and…
A small group of X-ray binaries currently provides the best evidence for the existence of stellar-mass black holes. These objects are interacting binary systems where the X-rays arise from accretion of material onto a compact object (i.e.…
It was recently claimed (arXiv:2408.10799) that solar system ephemeris data can exclude primordial black hole (PBH) dark matter in the mass range $10^{18}$-$10^{22}\,$g. We show that this conclusion is based on an implausible, implicit…
We present the most extensive and well-sampled long-term multi-band near-infrared (NIR) temporal and spectral variability study of OJ 287, considered to be the best candidate binary supermassive black hole blazar. These observations were…
We combine the Fermi-LAT light curve of the BL Lacertae type blazar OJ287 with time-dependent multi-waveband flux and linear polarization observations and submilliarcsecond-scale polarimetric images at lambda=7mm to locate the gamma-ray…
Relativistic plasma jets are observed in many accreting black holes. According to theory, coiled magnetic fields close to the black hole accelerate and collimate the plasma, leading to a jet being launched. Isolating emission from this…
The disruption of a star by a supermassive black hole generates a sudden bright flare. Previous studies have focused on the disruption by single black holes, for which the fallback rate decays as~$\propto t^{-5/3}$. In this paper, we…