2006/11/15 by Frank Rieger, Frank M. Rieger
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Active galactic nucleus #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Binary black hole #Binary number #Blazar #COSMIC cancer database #Context (archaeology) #Cosmology #Galaxy #Gamma ray #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Gravitational wave #Neutron star #Physics #Precession #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Supermassive black hole #X-ray binary #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s10509-007-9467-y
published as Astrophys.SpaceSci.309:271-275,2007 · 4 pages, based on presentation at "The multimessenger approach to unidentified gamma-ray sources", Barcelona/Spain, July 2006; accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Science; references updated
arxiv created 2006/11/15 · openalex publication_date 2007/04/18 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Supermassive binary black holes (SBBHs) are a natural outcome of galaxy mergers. Here we show that low-frequency (f ≤ 10-6 Hz) quasi-periodic variability observed from cosmic blazar sources can provide substantial inductive support for the presence of close (d \lppr 0.1 pc) SBBHs at their centers. It is argued on physical grounds that such close binary systems are likely to give rise to different (although not independent) periodicities in the radio, optical and X-ray/TeV regime, and, hence that detection of appropriate period ratios significantly corroborates the SBBH interpretation. This is illustrated for a binary model where optical longterm periodicity is related to accretion disk interactions, radio periodicity to Newtonian jet precession, and periodicities in the high energy bands to the orbital motion of the jet. We use the observed periodicities to constrain the properties for a sample of SBBH candidates including OJ 287 and AO 0235+16, and discuss the results within the context of jet activity and binary evolution.