Astrometric Jitter as a Detection Diagnostic for Recoiling and Slingshot Supermassive Black Hole Candidates
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) can be ejected from their galactic centers due to gravitational wave recoil or the slingshot mechanism following a galaxy merger. If an ejected SMBH retains its inner accretion disk, it may be visible as an off-nuclear active galactic nucleus (AGN). At present, only a handful of offset AGNs that are recoil or slingshot candidates have been found, and none have been robustly confirmed. Compiling a large sample of runaway SMBHs would enable us to constrain the mass and spin evolution of binary SMBHs and study feedback effects of displaced AGNs. We adapt the method of varstrometry—which was developed for Gaia observations to identify off-center, dual, and lensed AGNs—in order to quickly identify off-nuclear AGNs in optical survey data by looking for an excess of blue versus red astrometric jitter. We apply this to the Pan-STARRS1 3π Survey and report on five new runaway AGN candidates. We focus on ZTF18aajyzfv: a luminous quasar offset by 6.7 ± 0.2 kpc from an adjacent galaxy at z = 0.224, and conclude after Keck LRIS spectroscopy and comparison to ASTRID simulation analogs that it is likely a dual AGN. This selection method can be easily adapted to work with data from the soon-to-be commissioned Vera C. Rubin Telescope Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). LSST will have a higher cadence and deeper magnitude limit than Pan-STARRS1, and should permit detection of many more runaway SMBH candidates.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Authors: Anavi Uppal, Charlotte Ward, Suvi Gezari, Priyamvada Natarajan, Nianyi Chen, Patrick LaChance, Tiziana Di Matteo
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,499
Funders: National Science Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, W. M. Keck Foundation, John Templeton Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Space Telescope Science Institute, NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, Queen's University Belfast, Durham University, Queen's University, National Central University, Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Science Mission Directorate, Planetary Science Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Awards: G4474636675, G618131832, A NEO SEARCH PROGRAM USING THE PAN-STARRS PS1 TELESCOPETHE GOAL OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO USE T, REU Site: Research Experiences in Astronomy for Undergraduate Students at the Maria Mitchell Observatory, G7187964967, Pan-STARRS1: Operations; Public Data Release; Education and Outreach, G833430883
OpenAlex ID: W4404194147