A Large Systematic Search for Recoiling and Close Supermassive Binary Black Holes

Abstract

[ABRIDGED] We have carried out a systematic search for close supermassive black hole binaries among z < 0.7 SDSS quasars Such binaries are predicted by models of supermassive black hole and host galaxy co-evolution, therefore their census and population properties constitute an important test of these models. We used an automatic technique based on spectroscopic principal component analysis to search for broad H-beta lines that are displaced from the rest-frame of the quasar by more than 1,000 km/s This method can also yield candidates for rapidly recoiling black holes. Our search yielded 88 candidates, several of which were previously identified and discussed in the literature. The widths of the broad H-beta lines are typical among quasars but the shifts are extreme. We found a correlation between the peak offset and skewness of the broad H-beta profiles, which suggests that the profiles we have selected share a common physical explanation. The general properties of the narrow emission lines are typical of quasars. We carried out followup spectroscopic observations of 68 objects to search for changes in the peak velocities of the H-beta lines (the time interval in the observer's frame between the original and new observations is 1-10 yr). We measured significant changes in 14 objects, with resulting accelerations between -120 and +120 km/s/yr. We emphasize that interpretation of the offset broad emission lines as signatures of supermassive binaries is subject to many significant caveats. Many more followup observations over a long temporal baseline are needed to characterize the variability pattern of the broad lines and test that this pattern is indeed consistent with orbital motion. The possibility that some of the objects in this sample are rapidly recoiling black holes remains open as the available data do not provide strong constraints for this scenario.

Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Supplements on 10 June 2011. Version with large figures and full object list at: http://www2.astro.psu.edu/users/mce/preprints/SBHB.pdf (5 MB)

References in corpus (26)

• Large Merger Recoils and Spin Flips From Generic Black-Hole Binaries
• A Compact Supermassive Binary Black Hole System
• A massive binary black-hole system in OJ287 and a test of general relativity
• Massive black hole binary mergers within sub-pc scale gas discs
• The Population of Viscosity- and Gravitational Wave-Driven Supermassive Black Hole Binaries Among Luminous AGN
• Alignment of the spins of supermassive black holes prior to coalescence
• Supermassive black hole binaries in gaseous and stellar circumnuclear discs: orbital dynamics and gas accretion
• Black-hole binaries, gravitational waves, and numerical relativity
• Ejection of Supermassive Black Holes from Galaxy Cores
• A Candidate Sub-Parsec Supermassive Binary Black Hole System
• Limiting eccentricity of sub-parsec massive black hole binaries surrounded by self-gravitating gas discs
• Hangup Kicks: Still Larger Recoils by Partial Spin/Orbit Alignment of Black-Hole Binaries
• Type 2 Active Galactic Nuclei with Double-Peaked [OIII] Lines. II. Single AGNs with Complex Narrow-Line Region Kinematics are More Common than Binary AGNs
• Recoiling Black Holes in Merging Galaxies: Relationship to AGN Lifetimes, Starbursts, and the M-sigma Relation
• Observable Signatures of a Black Hole Ejected by Gravitational Radiation Recoil in a Galaxy Merger
• A systematic search for massive black hole binaries in SDSS spectroscopic sample
• Mergers in Double-Peaked [O III] Active Galactic Nuclei
• Long-Term Profile Variability of Double Peaked Emission Lines in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Super-massive binary black holes and emission lines in active galactic nuclei
• Modeling of Emission Signatures of Massive Black Hole Binaries: I Methods
• Gravitational Wave Recoil Oscillations of Black Holes: Implications for Unified Models of Active Galactic Nuclei
• Search of sub-parsec massive binary black holes through line diagnosis
• The peculiar optical spectrum of 4C+22.25: Imprint of a massive black hole binary?
• HST Images and KPNO Spectroscopy of the Binary Black Hole Candidate SDSS J153636.22+044127.0
• Unusual Double-peaked Emission in the SDSS Quasar J093201.60+031858.7
• The Final Merger of Black-Hole Binaries

Cited by in corpus (169)

• Gravitational waves from binary supermassive black holes missing in pulsar observations
• A systematic search for close supermassive black hole binaries in the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey
• The Astrophysics of Nanohertz Gravitational Waves
• Accretion into the Central Cavity of a Circumbinary Disk
• The origins of massive black holes
• The Quest for Dual and Binary Supermassive Black Holes: A Multi-Messenger View
• X-ray Quasi-Periodic Eruptions from two previously quiescent galaxies
• The Lick AGN Monitoring Project 2011: Spectroscopic Campaign and Emission-Line Light Curves
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: Velocity Shifts of Quasar Emission Lines
• Massive binary black holes in galactic nuclei and their path to coalescence
• Observational Signatures of Binary Supermassive Black Holes
• Recoiling black holes: prospects for detection and implications of spin alignment
• Electromagnetic Counterparts to Massive Black Hole Mergers
• Spectroscopic Indication for a Centi-parsec Supermassive Black Hole Binary in the Galactic Center of NGC 5548
• Dual Supermassive Black Hole Candidates in the AGN and Galaxy Evolution Survey
• Insights on the astrophysics of supermassive black hole binaries from pulsar timing observations
• Constraining sub-Parsec Binary Supermassive Black Holes in Quasars with Multi-Epoch Spectroscopy. I. The General Quasar Population
• The First Spectroscopically Resolved Sub-parsec Orbit of a Supermassive Binary Black Hole
• Double-peaked narrow emission-line galaxies from Sloan Digital Sky Survey. I. Sample and basic properties
• Double-peaked Narrow-Line Signatures of Dual Supermassive Black Holes in Galaxy Merger Simulations
• Supermassive Black Hole Binary Candidates from the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey
• Prospects for gravitational-wave detection and supermassive black hole astrophysics with pulsar timing arrays
• Search for Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Spectroscopic Sample
• Constraining Sub-Parsec Binary Supermassive Black Holes in Quasars with Multi-Epoch Spectroscopy. II. The Population with Kinematically Offset Broad Balmer Emission Lines
• Swift coalescence of supermassive black holes in cosmological mergers of massive galaxies
• A Large Systematic Search for Close Supermassive Binary and Rapidly Recoiling Black Holes - III. Radial Velocity Variations
• Testing the binary hypothesis: pulsar timing constraints on supermassive black hole binary candidates
• The spatially resolved broad line region of IRAS 09149-6206
• Massive BH Binaries as Periodically-Variable AGN
• Evidence for periodicity in 43 year-long monitoring of NGC 5548
• Constraining the Solution to the Last Parsec Problem with Pulsar Timing
• Nonlinear Gravitational Recoil from the Mergers of Precessing Black-Hole Binaries
• Constraining Sub-Parsec Binary Supermassive Black Holes in Quasars with Multi-Epoch Spectroscopy. III. Candidates from Continued Radial Velocity Tests
• Monitoring AGNs with Hβ Asymmetry. I. First Results: Velocity-resolved Reverberation Mapping
• Offset Active Galactic Nuclei as Tracers of Galaxy Mergers and Supermassive Black Hole Growth
• Orbital Decay of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in Clumpy Multiphase Merger Remnants
• Pulsar Timing Array Based Search for Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in the Square Kilometer Array Era
• A probable Milli-Parsec Supermassive Binary Black Hole in the Nearest Quasar Mrk 231
• On the possible gamma-ray burst -- gravitational wave association in GW150914
• Estimating Black Hole Masses in Quasars Using Broad Optical and UV Emission Lines
• A Systematic Search for Periodically Varying Quasars in Pan-STARRS1: An Extended Baseline Test in Medium Deep Survey Field MD09
• SDSS J0159+0105: A Radio-Quiet Quasar with a Centi-Parsec Supermassive Black Hole Binary Candidate
• Varstrometry for Off-nucleus and Dual sub-Kpc AGN (VODKA): Methodology and Initial Results with Gaia DR2
• Varstrometry for Off-nucleus and Dual sub-Kpc AGN (VODKA): Hubble Space Telescope Discovers Double Quasars
• Observable Consequences of Merger-Driven Gaps and Holes in Black Hole Accretion Disks
• A sample of Seyfert-2 galaxies with ultra-luminous galaxy-wide NLRs -- Quasar light echos?
• Structure and evolution of circumbinary disks around supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries
• A Large Systematic Search for Close Supermassive Binary and Rapidly Recoiling Black Holes - II. Continued Spectroscopic Monitoring and Optical Flux Variability
• Recoiling Supermassive Black Holes: a search in the Nearby Universe
• The nature of massive black hole binary candidates: I. Spectral properties and evolution
• Multi-messenger Time-domain Signatures Of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
• The Complete Ultraviolet Spectrum of the Archetypal "Wind-Dominated" Quasar Mrk~231: Absorption and Emission from a High-Speed Dusty Nuclear Outflow
• Searching for Binary Supermassive Black Holes via Variable Broad Emission Line Shifts: Low Binary Fraction
• The puzzling case of the radio-loud QSO 3C 186: a gravitational wave recoiling black hole in a young radio source?
• Astrophysics of Super-massive Black Hole Mergers
• Partial dust obscuration in active galactic nuclei as a cause of broad-line profile and lag variability, and apparent accretion disc inhomogeneities
• Monitoring AGNs with H$\beta$ Asymmetry. III. Long-term Reverberation Mapping Results of 15 Palomar-Green Quasars
• A Radial Velocity Test for Supermassive Black Hole Binaries as an Explanation for Broad, Double-Peaked Emission Lines in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Repeated Imaging of Massive Black Hole Binary Orbits with Millimeter Interferometry: measuring black hole masses and the Hubble constant
• Infalling clouds on to supermassive black hole binaries - II. Binary evolution and the final parsec problem
• Multi-messenger approaches to binary supermassive black holes in the "continuous-wave" regime
• The Lunar Gravitational-wave Antenna: Mission Studies and Science Case
• Emission Signatures from Sub-parsec Binary Supermassive Black Holes I: Diagnostic Power of Broad Emission Lines
• Gravitational Self-Lensing in Populations of Massive Black Hole Binaries
• Evidence for Two Distinct Broad-Line Regions from Reverberation Mapping of PG 0026+129
• Population Estimates for Electromagnetically-Distinguishable Supermassive Binary Black Holes
• Toward the unambiguous identification of supermassive binary black holes through Bayesian inference
• Supermassive Black Hole Binaries: The Search Continues
• High-redshift Extreme Variability Quasars from Sloan Digital Sky Survey Multi-Epoch Spectroscopy
• Kicking gravitational wave detectors with recoiling black holes
• Emission Signatures from Sub-parsec Binary Supermassive Black Holes II: Effect of Accretion Disk Wind on Broad Emission Lines
• Search of sub-parsec massive binary black holes through line diagnosis II
• Kinematic signatures of reverberation mapping of close binaries of supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei
• The Time-Domain Spectroscopic Survey: Target Selection for Repeat Spectroscopy
• Electromagnetic signatures from accreting massive black hole binaries in time domain photometric surveys
• An Improved Test of the Binary Black Hole Hypothesis for Quasars with Double-peaked Broad Balmer Lines
• A Potential Recoiling Supermassive Black Hole CXO J101527.2+625911
• A Chandra X-ray Survey of Optically Selected AGN Pairs
• Targeting supermassive black hole binaries and gravitational wave sources for the pulsar timing array
• Very Long Baseline Array Imaging of Type-2 Seyferts with Double-Peaked Narrow Emission Lines: Searches for Sub-kpc Dual AGNs and Jet-Powered Outflows
• New insights from deep VLA data on the potentially recoiling black hole CID-42 in the COSMOS field
• Confirmed short periodic variability of subparsec supermassive binary black hole candidate Mrk 231
• Electromagnetic signatures of supermassive black hole binaries resolved by PTAs
• Considerations for the Observability of Kinematically Offset Binary AGN
• Emission Signatures from Sub-parsec Binary Supermassive Black Holes III: Comparison of Models with Observations
• Pulsar timing arrays and the challenge of massive black hole binary astrophysics
• Binary Black Hole Accretion Flows From a Misaligned Circumbinary Disk
• Likelihood for Detection of Sub-parsec Supermassive Black Hole Binaries in Spectroscopic Surveys
• The Hunt for Red Quasars: Luminous Obscured Black Hole Growth Unveiled in the Stripe 82 X-ray Survey
• Measuring supermassive black hole peculiar motion using H${}_2$O megamasers
• Properties and merger signatures of galaxies hosting LISA coalescing massive black hole binaries
• A possible sub-kiloparsec dual AGN buried behind the galaxy curtain
• The Time-Domain Spectroscopic Survey: Understanding the Optically Variable Sky with SEQUELS in SDSS-III
• Optical follow-up of the tick-tock massive black hole binary candidate
• Evolution of a Binary Black Hole with a Retrograde Circumbinary Accretion Disk
• A 6.4yr optical quasi-periodic oscillations in SDSS J075217.84+193542.2: a new candidate for central binary black hole system
• The Bardeen-Petterson effect in accreting supermassive black-hole binaries: a systematic approach
• Variation of Broad Emission Lines from QSOs with Optical/UV Periodicity to Test the Interpretation of Supermassive Binary Black Holes
• Testing the relativistic Doppler boost hypothesis for supermassive binary black holes candidates via broad emission line profiles
• Microlensing of Sub-parsec Massive Binary Black Holes in Lensed QSOs: Light Curves and Size-Wavelength Relation
• WISE J233237.05-505643.5: a Double-Peaked Broad-Lined AGN with Spiral-Shaped Radio Morphology
• Powerful Radio-Loud Quasars are Triggered by Galaxy Mergers in the Cosmic Bright Ages
• The Search for Binary Supermassive Black Holes Amongst Quasars with Offset Broad Lines Using the Very Long Baseline Array
• Unveiling the hosts of parsec-scale massive black hole binaries: morphology and electromagnetic signatures
• Compact object mergers: Observations of supermassive binary black holes and stellar tidal disruption events
• Evidence for a milliparsec-separation Supermassive Binary Black Hole with quasar microlensing
• Variable classification in the LSST era: Exploring a model for quasi-periodic light curves
• A Multi-wavelength Analysis of Binary-AGN Candidate PSO J334.2028+01.4075
• Detecting subparsec super-massive binary black holes: Long termmonitoring perspective
• The SDSS-V Black Hole Mapper Reverberation Mapping Project: Unusual Broad-Line Variability in a Luminous Quasar
• Broad-line region configuration of the supermassive binary black hole candidate PG1302-102 in the relativistic Doppler boosting scenario
• A 3.8yr optical quasi-periodic oscillations in blue quasar SDSS J132144+033055 through combined light curves from CSS and ZTF
• Kinematically Identified Recoiling Supermassive Black Hole Candidates in SDSS QSOs with z $<$ 0.25
• Retrograde binaries of massive black holes in circum-binary accretion discs
• Constraints on Two Active Galactic Nuclei in the Merger Remnant COSMOS J100043.15+020637.2
• Predicting the broad lines polarization emitted by supermassive binary black holes
• The first look at Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies with eROSITA
• Finding binary active galactic nuclei by the centroid shift in imaging surveys
• GA-NIFS: The highly overdense system BR1202-0725 at z $\sim$ 4.7. A double AGN with fast outflows plus eight companion galaxies
• Spiral Arms in Broad-line Regions of Active Galactic Nuclei. II. Loosely Wound Cases: Reverberation Properties
• Line shifts and sub-pc super-massive binary black holes
• Detecting the Orbital Motion of Nearby Supermassive Black Hole Binaries with Gaia
• 2MASX J00423991+3017515: An offset active galactic nucleus in an interacting system
• ESPRESSO reveals a single but perturbed broad-line region in the supermassive black hole binary candidate PG 1302-102
• Pulsar Timing Array Constraints on the Merger Timescale of Subparsec Supermassive Black Hole Binary Candidates
• Chandra Observations of Abell 2261 Brightest Cluster Galaxy, a Candidate Host to a Recoiling Black Hole
• VLBA 24 and 43 GHz observations of massive binary black hole candidate PKS 1155+251
• The XMM-Newton spectrum of a candidate recoiling supermassive black hole: an elusive inverted P-Cygni profile
• A fast test for the identification and confirmation of massive black hole binaries
• X-ray view of a merging supermassive black hole binary candidate SDSSJ1430+2303: Results from the first ~200 days of observations
• The nature of massive black hole binary candidates: II. Spectral energy distribution atlas
• Deep VLBI Observations Challenge Previous Evidence of a Binary Supermassive Black Hole Residing in the Seyfert Galaxy NGC 7674
• A Multi-wavelength Study of the Host Environment of SMBHB 4C+37.11
• Binary AGN simulations with radiation pressure reveal a new duty cycle, and a reduction of gravitational torque, through 'minitori' structures
• Orbit Tomography of Binary Supermassive Black Holes with Very Long Baseline Interferometry
• A candidate of binary black hole system in AGN with broad Balmer emission lines having quite different line widths
• Menus for Feeding Black Holes
• Determining sub-parsec supermassive black hole binary orbits with infrared interferometry
• Direct Measurement of Quasar Outflow Wind Acceleration
• Astrophysics with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
• Hypercompact stellar clusters: morphological renditions and spectro-photometric models
• Diffractive lensing of nano-Hertz gravitational waves emitted from supermassive binary black holes by intervening galaxies
• Broadband spectral and temporal study of Ton 599 during the brightest January 2023 flare
• Strange Quasar Candidates with Abnormal Astrometric Characteristics from Gaia EDR3 and SDSS (SQUAB-II): Optical Identifications
• Discovery of a Quasar with Double-Peaked Broad Balmer Emission Lines
• Damping of long wavelength gravitational waves by the intergalactic medium
• Signatures of a spinning supermassive black hole binary on the mas-scale jet of the quasar S5 1928+738 based on 25 years of VLBI data
• Velocity offset between emission and absorption lines might be an effective indicator of dual core system
• Detection of eccentric close-binary supermassive black holes with incomplete interferometric data
• On Variation of Light Curves and Broad Emission Lines for Periodic QSOs from co-rotating Supermassive binary black holes in elliptical orbits
• Time Evolution of Mg II in SDSS J2320+0024: Implications for a Subparsec Binary Supermassive Black Hole System
• The Host Galaxies of PTA Sources: Converting Supermassive BH Binary Parameters into EM Observables
• Astrophysical and relativistic modeling of the recoiling black-hole candidate in quasar 3C 186
• Variations of Broad Emission Lines from periodicity QSOs under the interpretation of supermassive binary black holes with misaligned circumbinary broad line regions
• Searching for supermassive black holes binaries within SRG/eROSITA-De I: Properties of the X-ray selected candidates
• Prospects for observing supermassive black hole binaries with the space-ground interferometer
• Can a time evolving, asymmetric broad line region mimic a massive black hole binary?
• Search for Quasar Pairs with $Gaia$ Astrometric Data. I. Method and Candidates
• Keck/ESI Long-slit Spectroscopy of SBS 1421+511: A Recoiling Quasar Nucleus in An Active Galaxy Pair?
• A broad-line quasar with unexplained extreme velocity offsets: post-shock outflow?
• XMM-Newton spectrum of the radio-loud quasar 3C 215: slim accretion disk or SMBH binary?
• Constraining Recoiling Velocities of Black Holes Ejected by Gravitational Radiation in Galaxy Mergers
• Searching for unresolved massive black hole pairs through AGN photometric variability
• Search for Continuous Gravitational Wave Signals in Pulsar Timing Residuals: A New Scalable Approach with Diffusive Nested Sampling
• Line Shapes Emitted from Spiral Structures around Symmetric Orbits of Supermassive Binary Black Holes
• SDSS J153231.80+420342.7: a triple black hole candidate with a close binary black hole
• A restless supermassive black hole in the galaxy J0437+2456
• Binary black hole signatures in polarized light curves
• A Population Study for Searching Supermassive Binary Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei: Continuum Spectral Features and Periodic Variabilities