Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: Wandering massive black holes (MBHs) are thought to form through gravitational recoil or galaxy mergers, but observational confirmation of their displacement in dwarf galaxies, critical laboratories for early-universe SMBH seeding, remains scarce. Using multi-epoch very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), we identify a displaced MBH in the dwarf galaxy MaNGA 12772-12704, located 0.94 kilo-parsec from its optical center. The source exhibits unambiguous signatures of an accreting MBH: a brightness temperature exceeding $10^9$K, a parsec-scale jet, and flux density variability over a 30-year baseline. This system provides the first robust evidence that dynamical black hole interactions predicted in hierarchical galaxy evolution occur even in low-mass hosts. The discovery challenges models requiring centralized gas reservoirs for MBH growth and directly informs high-redshift seeding scenarios.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Liu, Yuanqi, An, Tao, Mezcua, Mar, Zhang, Yingkang, Wang, Ailing, Yang, Jun, Cheng, Xiaopeng
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7077974359
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