A new era for Dual AGN science with SHARP
Abstract
The search for and the characterization of ultra-compact dual active galactic nuclei (AGN) are among the hottest topics of current extragalactic astrophysics. These systems involve two accreting massive black holes (MBHs) embedded within the same host galaxy, with relative projected separations from a few hundred pc down to a few pc. They are central to understanding hierarchical galaxy formation, black hole growth and demographics, and accretion-feedback coupling in the most extreme interaction phases. Even more compellingly, such tight pairs are the most direct precursors of gravitationally bound binary MBHs (sub-pc scale separation), which are among the loudest emitters of gravitational waves (GWs) in the low-frequency ranges. SHARP will deliver the first statistical census and physical characterization of ultra-compact dual AGN up to cosmic distances, finally bridging the observational gap between kpc-scale pairs and sub-pc GW-emitting binaries, and enabling a breakthrough understanding of MBH growth, feedback and co-evolution across cosmic time.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2606.30727,
title = {A new era for Dual AGN science with SHARP},
author = {P. Severgnini and C. Vignali and A. De Rosa and E. Portaluri and F. Rigamonti and L. Battistini and L. Bertassi and E. Bertola and S. Bianchi and E. Bortolas and C. Cicone and Q. D'Amato and R. Della Ceca and I. Delvecchio and M. Dotti and J. Harms and I. Lamperti and F. Mannucci and M. Parvatikar and B. Sala and M. Scialpi and R. Serafinelli and J. Singh and M. V. Zanchettin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2606.30727},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
9 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for publication in the New Astronomy Special issue: SHARP science book