English
Related papers

Related papers: Testing compact massive black hole binary candidat…

200 papers

Rotating black holes can generate boson clouds via superradiance when the boson's Compton wavelength is comparable to the black hole's size. In binary systems, these clouds can produce distinctive observational imprints. Recent studies…

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology · Physics 2026-02-09 Ximeng Li , Jing Ren , Xi-Li Zhang

Supermassive binary black holes (SBBHs) are a natural outcome of galaxy mergers. Here we show that low-frequency ($f \leq 10^{-6}$ Hz) quasi-periodic variability observed from cosmic blazar sources can provide substantial inductive support…

Astrophysics · Physics 2008-11-26 Frank M. Rieger

Massive black-hole (MBH) binaries, which are expected to form following the merger of their parent galaxies, produce gravitational waves which will be detectable by Pulsar Timing Arrays at nanohertz frequencies (year periods). While no…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2019-03-13 Luke Zoltan Kelley , Zoltán Haiman , Alberto Sesana , Lars Hernquist

In this paper, we study the interaction between the supermassive binary black holes in elliptical orbit and their surrounding disk with a gap. The gap in the disk is a low density region formed due to the tidal effects of the less massive…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-06-16 Ning-Yu Tang , Ye-Fei Yuan

We assess the effects of super-massive black hole (SMBH) environments on the gravitational-wave (GW) signal from binary SMBHs. To date, searches with pulsar timing arrays for GWs from binary SMBHs, in the frequency band $\sim1-100$\,nHz,…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-19 V. Ravi , J. S. B. Wyithe , R. M. Shannon , G. Hobbs , R. N. Manchester

Merging supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries will likely be surrounded by a circumbinary accretion disk. Close to merger, gravitational radiation-driven inspiral will happen on timescales faster than the effective viscous time at the…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-04-23 Elias R. Most , Hai-Yang Wang

We study spectral and time variability of accreting massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) at milli-pc separations surrounded by a geometrically thin circumbinary disc. We present the first computed spectral energy distribution (SED) and light…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2024-11-20 Fabiola Cocchiararo , Alessia Franchini , Alessandro Lupi , Alberto Sesana

Supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHs) are a fascinating byproduct of galaxy mergers in the hierarchical universe. In the last stage of their orbital evolution, gravitational wave radiation drives the binary inspiral and produces the…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2022-01-28 Ning Jiang , Huan Yang , Tinggui Wang , Jiazheng Zhu , Zhenwei Lyu , Liming Dou , Yibo Wang , Jianguo Wang , Zhen Pan , Hui Liu , Xinwen Shu , Zhenya Zheng

Pulsar timing arrays are sensitive to gravitational waves from supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries at orbital separations of << 1pc. There is currently an observational paucity of such systems, although they are central figures in…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-16 Sarah Burke-Spolaor

Supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) should be common in galactic nuclei as a result of frequent galaxy mergers. Recently, a large sample of sub-parsec SMBHB candidates was identified as bright periodically variable quasars in optical…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2018-03-14 M. Charisi , Z. Haiman , D. Schiminovich , D. J. D'Orazio

Dipole-radiation-like deviations from general relativity are most prominent during the early inspiral of compact binaries, making space-ground multiband observations a potential probe of such effects. In the same regime, orbital…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2026-05-01 Han Wang , Lijing Shao

Merging compact black-hole (BH) binaries are likely to exist in the nuclear star clusters around supermassive BHs (SMBHs), such as Sgr A$^\ast$. They may also form in the accretion disks of active galactic nuclei. Such compact binaries can…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2022-01-26 Bin Liu , Dong Lai

In the last few years before merger, supermassive black hole binaries will rapidly inspiral and precess in a magnetic field imposed by a surrounding circumbinary disk. Multiple simulations suggest this relative motion will convert some of…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-30 R. O'Shaughnessy , D. L. Kaplan , A. Sesana , A. Kamble

We investigate whether a circumbinary gas disc can coalesce a supermassive black hole binary system in the centre of a galaxy. This is known to be problematic for a prograde disc. We show that in contrast, interaction with a retrograde…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-05-20 C. J. Nixon , P. J. Cossins , A. R. King , J. E. Pringle

This paper focuses on the dynamical implications of close supermassive black hole binaries both as an example of resonant phase mixing and as a potential explanation of inversions and other anomalous features observed in the luminosity…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-07 Henry E. Kandrup , Ioannis V. Sideris , Balsa Terzic , Courtlandt L. Bohn

Supermassive Binary Black Holes (SMBBHs) with sub-pc separations form in the course of galaxy mergers, if both galaxies harbour massive black holes. Clear observational evidence for them however still eludes us. We propose a novel method of…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-06-22 Patrick Brem , Jorge Cuadra , Pau Amaro-Seoane , S. Komossa

The self-lensing of a massive black hole binary (MBHB), which occurs when the two BHs are aligned close to the line of sight, is expected to produce periodic, short-duration flares. Here we study the shapes of self-lensing flares (SLFs) via…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2022-05-25 Jordy Davelaar , Zoltán Haiman

It has been suggested that the peculiar double-peaked Balmer lines of certain broad-line radio galaxies come from individual broad-line regions associated with the black holes of a supermassive binary. We continue to search for evidence of…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-10-30 M. Eracleous , J. P. Halpern , A. M. Gilbert , J. A. Newman , A. V. Filippenko

A small fraction of quasars have long been known to show bulk velocity offsets in the broad Balmer lines with respect to the systemic redshift of the host galaxy. Models to explain these offsets usually invoke broad-line region gas…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-18 Xin Liu , Yue Shen , Fuyan Bian , Abraham Loeb , Scott Tremaine

Stellar-mass binaries evolving in the vicinity of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) may be common in the universe, either in active galactic nuclei or in other astrophysical environments. Here, we study in detail the resonant excitation of…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2026-03-13 João S. Santos , Vitor Cardoso , Alexandru Lupsasca , José Natário , Maarten van de Meent