Secondary Black Hole Research Articles

Retrograde binaries of massive black holes in circumbinary accretion discs

We explore the hardening of a massive black hole binary embedded in a circum-binary gas disc when the binary and the gas are coplanar and the gas is counter-rotating. The secondary black hole, revolving in the direction opposite to the gas, experiences a drag from gas-dynamical friction and from direct accretion of part of it. Using two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamical grid simulations we investigate the effect of changing the accretion prescriptions on the dynamics of the secondary black hole which in turn affect the binary hardening and eccentricity evolution. We find that realistic accretion prescriptions lead to results that differ from those inferred assuming accretion of all the gas within the Roche Lobe of the secondary black hole. Different accretion prescriptions result in different disc's surface densities which alter the black hole's dynamics back. Full 3D SPH realizations of a number of representative cases, run over a shorter interval of time, validate the general trends observed in the less computationally demanding 2D simulations. Initially circular black hole binaries increase only slightly their eccentricity which then oscillates around small values (<0.1) while they harden. By contrast, initially eccentric binaries become more and more eccentric. A semi-analytical model describing the black hole's dynamics under accretion only explores the late evolution stages of the binary in an otherwise unperturbed retrograde disc to illustrate how eccentricity evolves with time in relation to the shape of the underlying surface density distribution.

Gas squeezing during the merger of a supermassive black hole binary

We study accretion rates during the gravitational wave-driven merger of a binary supermassive black hole embedded in an accretion disc, formed by gas driven to the centre of the galaxy. We use 3D simulations performed with PHANTOM, a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics code. Contrary to previous investigations, we show that there is evidence of a "squeezing phenomenon", caused by the compression of the inner disc gas when the secondary black hole spirals towards the primary. This causes an increase in the accretion rates that always exceed the Eddington rate. We have studied the main features of the phenomenon for a mass ratio $q = 10^{-3}$ between the black holes, including the effects of numerical resolution, the secondary accretion radius and the disc thickness. With our disc model with a low aspect ratio, we show that the mass expelled from the orbit of the secondary is negligible ($< 5\%$ of the initial disc mass), different to the findings of previous 2D simulations with thicker discs. The increase in the accretion rates in the last stages of the merger leads to an increase in luminosity, making it possible to detect an electromagnetic precursor of the gravitational wave signal emitted by the coalescence.

A PROBABLE MILLI-PARSEC SUPERMASSIVE BINARY BLACK HOLE IN THE NEAREST QUASAR MRK 231

Supermassive binary black holes (BBHs) are unavoidable products of galaxy mergers and are expected to exist in the cores of many quasars. Great effort has been made during the past several decades to search for BBHs among quasars; however, observational evidence for BBHs remains elusive and ambiguous, which is difficult to reconcile with theoretical expectations. In this paper, we show that the distinct optical-to-UV spectrum of Mrk 231 can be well interpreted as emission from accretion flows onto a BBH, with a semimajor axis of ~590AU and an orbital period of ~1.2 year. The flat optical and UV continua are mainly emitted from a circumbinary disk and a mini-disk around the secondary black hole (BH), respectively; and the observed sharp drop off and flux deficit at wavelength lambda ~ 4000-2500 Angstrom is due to a gap (or hole) opened by the secondary BH migrating within the circumbinary disk. If confirmed by future observations, this BBH will provide a unique laboratory to study the interplay between BBHs and accretion flows onto them. Our result also demonstrates a new method to find sub-parsec scale BBHs by searching for deficits in the optical-to-UV continuum among the spectra of quasars.

Spin alignment and differential accretion in merging black hole binaries

Interactions between a supermassive black hole binary and the surrounding accretion disc can both assist the binary inspiral and align the black hole spins to the disc angular momentum. While binary migration is due to angular-momentum transfer within the circumbinary disc, the spin-alignment process is driven by the mass accreting on to each black hole. Mass transfer between different disc components thus couples the inspiral and the alignment process together. Mass is expected to leak through the cavity cleared by the binary, and preferentially accretes on to the lighter (secondary) black hole which orbits closer to the disc edge. Low accretion rate on to the heavier (primary) black hole slows the alignment process down. We revisit the problem and develop a semi-analytical model to describe the coupling between gas-driven inspiral and spin alignment, finding that binaries with mass ratio q<~0.2 approach the gravitational-wave driven inspiral in differential misalignment: light secondaries prevent primaries from aligning. Binary black holes with misaligned primaries are ideal candidates for precession effects in the strong-gravity regime and may suffer from moderately large (~1500 km/s) recoil velocities.

The mass ratio distribution of MBH binaries in the hierarchical model**Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

We present different mass ratio distributions of massive black hole (MBH) binaries due to different mechanisms involved in binary evolution. A binary system of MBHs forms after the merger of two galaxies, which has three stages: the dynamical friction stage, the stellar scattering or circumbinary disk stage, and the gravitational radiation stage. The second stage was once believed to be the “final parsec problem” (FPP) as the binary stalled at this stage because of the depletion of stars. Now, the FPP has been shown to no longer be a problem. Here we get two different mass ratio distributions of MBH binaries under two mechanisms, stellar scattering and the circumbinary disk interaction. For the circumbinary disk mechanism, we assume that the binary shrinks by interaction with a circumbinary disk and the two black holes (BHs) have different accretion rates in the simulation. We apply this simple assumption to the hierarchical coevolution model of MBHs and dark matter halos, and we find that there will be more equal-mass MBH binaries in the final coalescence for the case where the circumbinary mechanism operates. This is mainly because the secondary BH in the circumbinary disk system accretes at a higher rate than the primary one.

Model simulation for periodic double-peaked outbursts in blazar OJ 287: binary black hole plus lighthouse effect

The mechanism of formation for double-peaked optical outbursts observed in blazar OJ 287 is studied. It is shown that they could be explained in terms of a lighthouse effect for superluminal optical knots ejected from the center of the galaxy that move along helical magnetic fields. It is assumed that the orbital motion of the secondary black hole in the supermassive binary black hole system induces the 12-year quasi-periodicity in major optical outbursts by the interaction with the disk around the primary black hole. This interaction between the secondary black hole and the disk of the primary black hole (e.g. tidal effects or magnetic coupling) excites or injects plasmons (or relativistic plasmas plus magnetic field) into the jet which form superluminal knots. These knots are assumed to move along helical magnetic field lines to produce the optical double-peaked outbursts by the lighthouse effect. The four double-peaked outbursts observed in 1972, 1983, 1995 and 2005 are simulated using this model. It is shown that such lighthouse models are quite plausible and feasible for fitting the double-flaring behavior of the outbursts. The main requirement may be that in OJ 287 there exists a rather long (~40–60 pc) highly collimated zone, where the lighthouse effect occurs.

A study of the middle time-scale periodic behavior of light curve of BL Lac object OJ287

In this paper, we collect the 37 years' data observed for BL Lac object OJ287 in the optical band, and construct its light curve from 1972 to 2009. Using the method of Lomb-Scargle Fourier transform, we analyze the middle time-scale periodic behavior and discover the primary periodic compositions of 52.0±1.1 day and 255±23 day. Then, we simulate the quasi-periodic signal of period doubling bifurcations and compare it with the observation data at different time-interval in their phase diagram and correlation dimension. Result indicates that OJ287 has multi-period scale features. At different time-intervals, there are different harmonic period components in the quasi-periodic light curve. Variation of harmonic period component is related with the disturbance of accretion flow which is from the secondary black hole to the primary black hole, and the periodicity variability may bifurcate the harmonic period component when the primary accretion flow is influenced by a strong disturbance.

Black hole binary OJ287 as a testing platform for general relativity

The blazar OJ287 is the most promising (and the only) case for an extragalactic binary black hole system inspiralling under the action of gravitational radiation reaction. At present, though it is not possible to directly observe the binary components, it is possible to observe the jet emanating from the primary black hole. We have argued that the orbital motion of the secondary black hole is reflected in the wobble of the jet, and demonstrated that the wobble is orbital position dependent. The erratic wobble of the jet is analyzed by taking into account the binary nature of the system, and we have found that the erratic component of jet wobble is very small.

SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE BINARIES AT HIGH ENERGIES

An accretion disk around a supermassive black hole may be strongly perturbed by the presence of a secondary black hole. Recent simulations have shown that, under certain conditions, the tidal torques exerted by the secondary black hole may open an annular gap in the disk. In this regime, matter "overflows" across the secondary's orbit to accrete onto the primary and may feed a pair of relativistic jets. In this work we study the radiative properties of a binary system of supermassive black holes, assuming that a relativistic jet is launched from the primary and the migration of the secondary across the disk proceeds in the "overflowing" regime. The modified radiative spectrum of the disk is calculated accounting for strong gravitational effects in the innermost region. The jet emits non-thermal radiation all along the electromagnetic spectrum by interaction of locally accelerated electrons with the jet's magnetic field and internal and external radiation. In particular, we investigate whether the interaction of the relativistic electrons with the photons emitted by the accretion disk induces any signature in the spectral energy distribution of the jet that may reveal the presence of the secondary black hole.

Massive black hole binaries in gas-rich galaxy mergers; multiple regimes of orbital decay and interplay with gas inflows

We revisit the phases of the pairing and sinking of black holes (BHs) in galaxy mergers and circumnuclear discs in light of the results of recent simulations with massive BHs embedded in predominantly gaseous backgrounds. After a general overview we highlight for the first time the existence of a clear transition, for unequal mass BHs, between the regime in which the orbital decay is dominated by the conventional dynamical friction wake and one in which global disc torques associated with density waves launched by the secondary BH as well as co-orbital torques arising from gas gravitationally captured by the BH dominate and lead to faster decay. The new regime intervenes at BH binary separations of a few tens of parsecs and below, following a phase of orbital circularization driven dynamical friction. It bears some resemblance with planet migration in protoplanetary discs. While the orbital timescale is reasonably matched by the migration rate for the Type-I regime, the dominant negative torque arises near the co-rotation resonance, which is qualitatively similar to what is found in the so-called Type-III migration, the fastest migration regime identified so far for planets. This fast decay rate brings the BHs to separations of order 10−1 pc, the resolution limit of our simulations, in less than ∼107 yr in a smooth disc, while the decay timescale can increase to >108 yr in clumpy discs due to gravitational scattering with molecular clouds. Eventual gap opening at sub-pc scale separations will slow down the orbital decay subsequently. How fast the binary BH can reach the separation at which gravitational waves take over will be determined by the nature of the interaction with the circumbinary disc and the complex torques exerted the gas flowing through the edge of such disc, the subject of many recent studies. We also present a new intriguing connection between the conditions required for rapid orbital decay of massive BH binaries and those required for prominent gas inflows in gas-rich galaxies undergoing major mergers. We derive a condition for the maximum inflow rate that a circumnuclear disc can host while still maintaining a sufficiently high gas density at large radii to sustain the decay of a BH binary. We find that gas inflows rates exceeding 10 M⊙ yr−1, postulated to form massive BH seeds in some direct collapse models, would stifle the sinking of massive BH binaries in gas-dominated galactic nuclei. Vice-versa, lower inflow rates, below a solar mass per year, as required to feed typical active galactic nuclei (AGNs), are compatible with a fast orbital decay of BH binaries across a wide range of masses.

MASSIVE BLACK HOLE PAIRS IN CLUMPY, SELF-GRAVITATING CIRCUMNUCLEAR DISKS: STOCHASTIC ORBITAL DECAY

We study the dynamics of massive black hole pairs in clumpy gaseous circumnuclear disks. We track the orbital decay of the light, secondary black hole $M_{\bullet2}$ orbiting around the more massive primary at the center of the disk, using $N$-body/smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulations. We find that the gravitational interaction of $M_{\bullet2}$ with massive clumps $M_{\rm cl}$ erratically perturbs the otherwise smooth orbital decay. In close encounters with massive clumps, gravitational slingshots can kick the secondary black hole out of the disk plane. The black hole moving on an inclined orbit then experiences the weaker dynamical friction of the stellar background, resulting in a longer orbital decay timescale. Interactions between clumps can also favor orbital decay when the black hole is captured by a massive clump which is segregating toward the center of the disk. The stochastic behavior of the black hole orbit emerges mainly when the ratio $M_{\bullet2}/M_{\rm cl}$ falls below unity, with decay timescales ranging from $\sim1$ to $\sim50$ Myr. This suggests that describing the cold clumpy phase of the inter-stellar medium in self-consistent simulations of galaxy mergers, albeit so far neglected, is important to predict the black hole dynamics in galaxy merger remnants.

A helical jet model for OJ287

Context. OJ287 is a quasar with a quasi-periodic optical light curve, with the periodicity observed for over 120 years. This has lead to a binary black hole model as a common explanation of the quasar. The radio jet of OJ287 has been observed for a shorter time of about 30 years. It has a complicated structure that varies dramatically in a few years time scale. Aims. Here we propose that this structure arises from a helical jet being observed from a small and varying viewing angle. The viewing angle variation is taken to be in tune with the binary orbital motion. Methods. We calculate the effect of the secondary black hole on the inner edge of the accretion disk of the primary using particle simulations. We presume that the axis of the helix is perpendicular to the disk. We then follow the jet motion on its helical path and project the jet to the sky plane. This projection is compared with observations both at mm waves and cm waves. Results. We find that this model reproduces the observations well if the changes in the axis of the conical helix propagate outwards with a relativistic speed of about 0.85c. In particular, this model explains at the same time the long-term optical brightness variations as varying Doppler beaming in a component close to the core, i.e. at parsec scale in real linear distance, while the mm and cm radio jet observations are explained as being due to jet wobble at much larger (100 parsec scale) distances from the core.

Ripple effects and oscillations in the broad Fe Kα line as a probe of massive black hole mergers

When a sufficiently massive satellite (or secondary) black hole is embedded in a gas disc around a (primary) supermassive black hole, it can open an empty gap in the disc. A gap-opening secondary close to the primary will leave an imprint in the broad component of the Fe Kα emission line, which varies in a unique and predictable manner. If the gap persists into the innermost disc, the effect consists of a pair of dips in the broad line which ripple blue-ward and red-ward from the line centroid energy, respectively, as the gap moves closer to the primary. This ripple effect could be unambiguously detectable and allow an electromagnetic monitoring of massive black hole mergers as they occur. As the mass ratio of the secondary to primary black hole increases to q ≳ 0.01, we expect the gap to widen, possibly clearing a central cavity in the inner disc, which shows up in the broad Fe Kα line component. If the secondary stalls at ≥ 102rg in its in-migration, due to low corotating gas mass, a detectable ripple effect occurs in the broad line component on the disc viscous time-scale as the inner disc drains and the outer disc is dammed. If the secondary maintains an accretion disc within a central cavity, due to dam bursting or leakage, a periodic ‘see-saw’ oscillation effect is exhibited in the observed line profile. Here, we demonstrate the range of ripple effect signatures potentially detectable with Astro-H and IXO/Athena, and oscillation effects potentially detectable with XMM–Newton or LOFT for a wide variety of merger and disc conditions, including gap width (or cavity size), disc inclination angle and emissivity profile, damming of the accretion flow by the secondary, and a minidisc around the satellite black hole. A systematic study of ripple effects would require a telescope effective area substantially larger than that planned for IXO/Athena. Future mission planning should take this into account. Observations of the ripple effect and periodic oscillations can be used to provide an early warning of gravitational radiation emission from the AGN. Once gravitational waves consistent with massive black hole mergers are detected, an archival search for the Fe Kα ripple effect or periodic oscillations will help in localizing their origin.

PRECURSOR FLARES IN OJ 287

We have studied three most recent precursor flares in the light curve of the blazar OJ 287 while invoking the presence of a precessing binary black hole in the system to explain the nature of these flares. Precursor flare timings from the historical light curves are compared with theoretical predictions from our model that incorporate effects of an accretion disk and post-Newtonian description for the binary black hole orbit. We find that the precursor flares coincide with the secondary black hole descending towards the accretion disk of the primary black hole from the observed side, with a mean z-component of approximately z_c = 4000 AU. We use this model of precursor flares to predict that precursor flare of similar nature should happen around 2020.96 before the next major outburst in 2022.

OBSERVABLE CONSEQUENCES OF MERGER-DRIVEN GAPS AND HOLES IN BLACK HOLE ACCRETION DISKS

We calculate the observable signature of a black hole accretion disk with a gap or hole created by a secondary black hole embedded in the disk. We find that for an interesting range of parameters of black hole masses (~10^6 to 10^9 solar masses), orbital separation (~1 AU to ~0.1 pc), and gap width (10 to 190 disk scale heights), the missing thermal emission from a gap manifests itself in an observable decrement in the spectral energy distribution. We present observational diagnostics in terms of power-law forms that can be fit to line-free regions in AGN spectra or in fluxes from sequences of broad filters. Most interestingly, the change in slope in the broken power-law is almost entirely dependent on the width of gap in the accretion disk, which in turn is uniquely determined by mass ratio of the black holes, such that it scales roughly as q^(5/12). Thus one can use spectral observations of the continuum of bright active galactic nuclei to infer not only the presence of a closely separated black hole binary but also the mass ratio. When the black hole merger opens an entire hole (or cavity) in the inner disk, the broad band SED of the AGN or quasar may serve as a diagnostic. Such sources should be especially luminous in optical bands but intrinsically faint in X-rays (i.e., not merely obscured). We briefly note that viable candidates may have already been identified, though extant detailed modeling of those with high quality data have not yet revealed an inner cavity.

On the masses of OJ287 black holes

Two multifrequency campaigns were carried out on OJ287 in 2005: in April when it was in its pre-outburst state, and in November, during the main 12 yr cycle outburst. The wavelength coverage was from radio to X-rays. In the optical-to-UV range the differential spectrum between the observations has a bremsstrahlung spectral shape, consistent with gas at $3 \times 10^{5}K$ temperature. Our result supports the hydrogen column density of the OJ287 host galaxy of $\sim9.3\times 10^{20} cm^{-2}$, the average value found by Gosh & Soundararajaperumal. The $3 \times 10^{5}K$ bremsstrahlung radiation was predicted in the binary black hole model of OJ287, and it arises from a hot bubble of gas which is torn off the accretion disc by the impact of the secondary. As this radiation is not Doppler boosted, the brightness of the outburst provides an estimate for the mass of the secondary black hole, $\sim1.4\times10^{8}$ solar mass. In order to estimate the mass of the primary black hole, we ask what is the minimum mass ratio in a binary system which allows the stability of the accretion disc. By using particle simulations, we find that the ratio is $\sim1.3\times10^{2}$. This makes the minimum mass of the primary $\sim1.8\times10^{10}$ solar mass, in agreement with the mass determined from the orbit solution, $1.84 \times 10^{10}$ solar mass. With this mass value and the measured K-magnitude of the bulge of the host galaxy of OJ287, the system lies almost exactly on the previously established correlation in the black hole mass vs. K-magnitude diagramme. It supports the extension of this correlation to brighter magnitudes and to more massive black holes than has been done previously.

Parsec-scale jet precession in BL Lacertae (2200+420)

BL Lacertae is the prototype of the BL Lac class of active galactic nuclei, exhibiting intensive activity on parsec (pc) scales, such as intense core variability and multiple ejections of jet components. In particular, in previous works the existence of precession motions in the pc-scale jet of BL Lacertae has been suggested. In this work we revisit this issue, investigating temporal changes of the observed right ascension and declination offsets of the jet knots in terms of our relativistic jet-precession model. The seven free parameters of our precession model were optimized via a heuristic cross-entropy method, comparing the projected precession helix with the positions of the jet components on the plane of the sky and imposing constraints on their maximum and minimum superluminal velocities. Our optimized best model is compatible with a jet having a bulk velocity of 0.9824c, which is precessing with a period of about 12.1 yr in the observer's reference frame and changing its orientation in relation to the line of sight between 4 and 5 degrees, approximately. Assuming that the jet precession has its origin in a supermassive binary black hole system, we show that the 2.3-yr periodic variation in the structural position angle of the very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) core of BL Lacertae reported by Stirling et al. is compatible with a nutation phenomenon if the secondary black hole has a mass higher than about six times that of the primary black hole.

The Orbit Computation of Binary Black Hole OJ287—A 3.5-th Order Post-Newtonian Approximation

The massive binary black hole OJ287 is a source of intense gravita- tional radiation. To detect the signal of its gravitational waves, a knowledge of the signal waveform will be of great help, and this is mainly determined by the orbital motion of the binary. For this, we carry out a detailed calculation on the orbital motion of OJ287, using the post-Newtonian (PN) approximation up to the 3.5th order within the framework of general relativity. Our result is one order higher than the previous work made by others. As in the process of radiation, there is a time delay from the instance when the secondary black hole impacts on the accretion disk of the primary to the moment of the optical outburst. This time delay has to be taken into consideration when we try to fit the calculating orbit with the observed times of outbursts. Adopting a linear relation between the time delay and the impact distance as an empirical model, we fit the cal- culating orbit with the recent 7 outbursts of OJ287, and obtain the solution of its orbital motion, as well as its averaged orbital parameters. By analyzing the result of 3.5 PN order calculation of the binary system, we find some interesting features. In the early period, the rate of precession of the secondary black hole increases, while in the late period approximate to merging, the rate of precession attains its maximum. Afterwards it diminishes, and finally becomes negative. At present we cannot determine whether this behavior is due to the insuffcient accuracy of the 3.5-th order approximation. For the term of dissipative radiation in the equation of motion, the coeffcients of the 2.5 and 3.5 PN orders possess opposite signs. This implies that the 3.5-th order term represents the absorption of energy from outside. However, the sum of the 2.5-th order and 3.5-th order terms still behaves as radiating gravitational waves outward, the rate of energy variation of the system is negative. The calculated result of this work may be useful for more accurate calculations of the gravitational radiation of OJ287.

Search for sub-parsec massive binary black holes through line diagnosis - II

Massive black hole (BH) binaries at sub‐parsec separations may display in their spectra anomalously small flux ratios between the Mg ii and C iv broad emission lines, i.e. , due to the erosion of the broad line region around the active, secondary BH, by the tidal field of the primary. In Paper I, we focused on broad lines emitted by gas bound to the lighter accreting member of a binary when the binary is at the centre of a hollow density region (the gap) inside a circum‐binary disc. The main aim of this new study is to explore the potential contribution to the broad line emission by the circum‐binary disc and by gaseous streams flowing towards the BH through the gap. We carry out a post‐process analysis of data extracted from a smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulation of a circum‐binary disc around a BH binary. Our main result is that the Mg ii to C iv flux ratio can be reduced to ∼0.1 within an interval of sub‐parsec binary separations of the order of a ∼ (0.01–0.2)(fEdd/0.1)1/2 pc corresponding to orbital periods of ∼(20–200)(fEdd/0.1)3/4 yr for a secondary BH mass in the range M2 ∼ 107–109 M⊙ and a binary mass ratio of 0.3. At closer separations this ratio increases to values that are indistinguishable from the case of a single active galactic nucleus (typically ) because of the contribution to the Mg ii line from gas in the circum‐binary disc.

No snowplough mechanism during the rapid hardening of supermassive black hole binaries

ABSTRACT We present 2D hydrodynamical simulations of the tidal interaction between a supermassive black hole binary with moderate mass ratio and the fossil gas disc where it is embedded. Our study extends previous 1D height-integrated disc models, which predicted that the density of the gas disc between the primary and the secondary black holes should rise significantly during the ultimate stages of the binary's hardening driven by the gravitational radiation torque. This snowplough mechanism, as we call it, would lead to an increase in the bolometric luminosity of the system prior to the binary merger, which could be detected in conjunction with the gravitational wave signal. We argue here that the snowplough mechanism is unlikely to occur. In 2D, when the binary's hardening time-scale driven by gravitational radiation becomes shorter than the disc's viscous drift time-scale, fluid elements in the inner disc get funnelled to the outer disc through horseshoe trajectories with respect to the secondary. Mass leakage across the secondary's gap is thus found to be effective and, as a result, the predicted accretion disc luminosity will remain at roughly the same level prior to merger.