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Related papers: Super-Size Me: The Big Multi-AGN Catalog (The Big …

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The quest for binary and dual supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the dawn of the multi-messenger era is compelling. Detecting dual active galactic nuclei (AGN) -- active SMBHs at projected separations larger than several parsecs -- and…

As a natural consequence of galaxy mergers, binary active galactic nuclei (AGNs) should be commonplace. Nevertheless, observational confirmations are rare, especially for binaries with separations less than ten kpc. Such a system may show…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-19 Hai Fu , Adam D. Myers , S. G. Djorgovski , Lin Yan

Building a large sample of kiloparsec (kpc)-scale dual active galactic nuclei (AGNs) amongst merging galaxies is of vital importance to understand the co-evolution between host galaxies and their central super massive black holes (SMBHs).…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-12-15 Yang-wei Zhang , Yang Huang , Jin-ming Bai , Xiao-wei Liu , Jian-guo Wang , Xiao-bo Dong

The occurrence of dual active galactic nuclei (AGN) on scales of a few tens of kpc can be used to study merger-induced accretion on massive black holes (MBHs) and to derive clues on MBH mergers, using dual AGN as a parent population of…

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are powered by accretion disks onto supermassive black holes in the the centers of galaxies. AGN are believed to play important roles in the evolution of both supermassive black holes and their host galaxies…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-06-11 K. E. Saavik Ford , Barry McKernan

It is still a matter of intense debate how supermassive black holes (SMBH) grow, and the role played by feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the co-evolution of SMBHs and galaxies. To test the coevolution proposed by theoretical…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2022-11-30 George Mountrichas , Francesco Shankar

In this paper we present an overview of the MAGNA (Multiple AGN Activity) project aiming at a comprehensive study of multiple supemassive black hole systems. With the main goal to characterize the sources in merging systems at different…

The hierarchical structure formation paradigm predicts the formation of pairs of supermassive black holes in merging galaxies. When both (or one) members of the SMBH pair are unobscured AGNs, the system can be identified as a dual (or…

[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…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-04 Andrea Merloni , Sebastian Heinz

The study of heavily obscured supermassive black hole (SMBH) growth in late-stage galaxy mergers is challenging: column densities $N_{\mathrm{H}}>10^{24},\mathrm{cm}^{-2}$ can block most nuclear emission, leaving significant gaps in the…

In the last decade, a combination of high sensitivity, high spatial resolution observations and of coordinated multi-wavelength surveys has revolutionized our view of extra-galactic black hole (BH) astrophysics. We now know that…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2016-06-22 A. Merloni

The remnants of galaxy mergers may host multiple off-nuclear massive black holes (MBHs), some of which may wander indefinitely within the host galaxy halos. Tracing the population of offset MBHs is essential for understanding how the…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-09-15 R. Scott Barrows , Julia M. Comerford

The Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) channel for the formation of binary black hole (BBH) mergers has been previously studied as a potential formation channel for the merging compact binaries observed by the LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA (LVK) scientific…

Galaxy mergers provide a mechanism for galaxies to effectively funnel gas and materials toward their nuclei and fuel the central starbursts and accretion of supermassive black holes. In turn, the active nuclei drive galactic-scale outflows…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2022-07-28 Vivian U

Theoretical studies predict that the most significant growth of supermassive black holes occurs in late-stage mergers, coinciding with the manifestation of dual active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and both major and minor mergers are expected to…

Galaxy mergers have long been proposed as a mechanism for funneling gas toward galactic centres, potentially triggering accretion onto supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and igniting active galactic nuclei (AGN). While simulations often…

Active galactic nuclei (AGN), particularly the most luminous AGN, are commonly assumed to be triggered through major mergers, however observational evidence for this scenario is mixed. To investigate any influence of galaxy mergers on AGN…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-07-05 Tim Hewlett , Carolin Villforth , Vivienne Wild , Jairo Mendez-Abreu , Milena Pawlik , Kate Rowlands

Major galaxy mergers can trigger nuclear activities and are responsible for high-luminosity quasi-stellar objects /active galactic nuclei (QSOs/AGNs). In certain circumstances, such mergers may cause dual active galactic nuclei (dAGN)…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-10-22 Chao Yang , Junqiang Ge , Youjun Lu

Observational searches for dual active galactic nuclei (dAGNs) at kiloparsec separations are crucial for understanding the role of galaxy mergers in the evolution of galaxies. In addition, kpc-scale dAGNs may serve as the parent population…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-08-05 Kunyang Li , David R. Ballantyne , Tamara Bogdanović

We present results from a multi-wavelength analysis searching for multiple AGN systems in nearby (z<0.077) triple galaxy mergers. Combining archival Chandra, SDSS, WISE, and VLA observations, we quantify the rate of nearby triple AGN, as…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2021-02-10 Adi Foord , Kayhan Gultekin , Jessie C. Runnoe , Michael J. Koss