2024/05/31 by Mireia Montes, Montes, Mireia, J. Sánchez Alméida +3 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #Experimental and Theoretical Physics Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2406.00102
openalex publication_date 2024/05/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A long linear structure recently discovered could be the stellar wake produced by the passage of a runaway supermassive black hole (SMBH) or, alternatively, a bulgeless edge-on galaxy. We report on new very deep HST imaging that seems to be in tension with the SMBH runaway scenario but is consistent with the bulgeless edge-on galaxy scenario. The new observations were aimed at detecting two key features expected in the SMBH scenario, namely, the bow shock formed where the SMBH meets the surrounding medium, and a counter stellar wake created by another binary SMBH hypothesized as part of the ejection mechanism. Neither of these two features appears to be present in the new images, as would be expected in the edge-on galaxy scenario.