2008/07/11 by Marek Gierliński, Marek Gierlinski, Gierlinski, Marek +7
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0807.1899
Accepted for publication in Nature, 3 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2008/07/11 · openalex publication_date 2008/07/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Active galactic nuclei and quasars are thought to be scaled up versions of Galactic black hole binaries, powered by accretion onto supermassive black holes with masses of 106-109 MSun, as opposed to the ~10 MSun in binaries. One example of the similarities between these two types of systems is the characteristic rapid X-ray variability seen from the accretion flow. The power spectrum of this variability in black hole binaries consists of a broad, band-limited noise with multiple quasi-periodic oscillations superimposed, where power is concentrated over a narrow range of frequencies. Although the broad noise component has been observed in many active galactic nuclei, there are no significant detections of quasi-periodic oscillations. Here we report the discovery of a ~1h X-ray periodicity in a bright active galaxy RE J1034+396. The signal is highly statistically significant (at the 5.6 sigma level) and very coherent, with quality factor Q > 16. This reinforces the link between stellar and supermassive black holes, emphasizing the universal properties of accretion onto objects with very different masses. The X-ray modulation arises from the direct vicinity of the black hole, so this provides a new tool for studying active galactic nuclei.