Pith. sign in

REVIEW

Swift data hint at a binary Super Massive Black Hole candidate at sub-parsec separation

Not yet reviewed by Pith; the record is open.

This paper has not been read by Pith yet. Machine review is queued; the pith claim, tier, and objections will appear here once it completes.

SPECIMEN: schema-true, not a live event

T0 review · schema-true

One-sentence machine reading of the paper's core claim.

pith:XXXXXXXX · record.json · timestamp

arxiv 1806.10150 v1 pith:QY7WMB6W submitted 2018-06-26 astro-ph.HE

Swift data hint at a binary Super Massive Black Hole candidate at sub-parsec separation

classification astro-ph.HE
keywords presenceemissionlinesspectrumx-raybinarycurvelight
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
0 comments
Share X Bluesky LinkedIn Reddit HN
read the original abstract

Dual/binary Supermassive Black Hole (SMBH) systems are the inevitable consequence of the current Lambda Cold Dark Matter cosmological paradigm. In this context, we discuss here the properties of MCG+11-11-032, a local (z=0.0362) Seyfert 2 galaxy. This source was proposed as a dual AGN candidate on the basis of the presence of double-peaked [OIII] emission lines in its optical spectrum. MCG+11-11-032 is also an X-ray variable source and was observed several times by the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT) on time scales from days to years. In this work, we analyze the SDSS-DR13 spectrum and find evidence for double-peaked profiles in all the strongest narrow emission lines. We also study the XRT light curve and unveil the presence of an alternating behavior of the intrinsic 0.3-10 keV flux, while the 123-month Swift BAT light curve supports the presence of almost regular peaks and dips almost every 25 months. In addition, the XRT spectrum suggests for the presence of two narrow emission lines with rest-frame energies of E~6.16 keV and E~6.56 keV. Although by considering only the optical emission lines, different physical mechanisms may be invoked to explain the kinematical properties, the X-ray results are most naturally explained by the presence of a binary SMBH in the center of this source. In particular, we evidence a remarkable agreement between the putative SMBH pair orbital velocity derived from the BAT light curve and the velocity offset derived by the rest-frame Delta_E between the two X-ray line peaks in the XRT spectrum (i.e. Delta_v~0.06c).

discussion (0)

Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.