Black hole accretion disc impacts

Abstract

We present an analytic model for computing the luminosity and spectral evolution of flares caused by a supermassive black hole impacting the accretion disc of another supermassive black hole. Our model includes photon diffusion, emission from optically thin regions and relativistic corrections to the observed spectrum and time-scales. We test the observability of the impact scenario with a simulated population of quasars hosting supermassive black hole binaries. The results indicate that for a moderate binary mass ratio of 0.3, and impact distances of 100 primary Schwarzschild radii, the accretion disc impacts can be expected to equal or exceed the host quasar in brightness at observed wavelength λ = 510 nm up to z = 0.6. We conclude that accretion disc impacts may function as an independent probe for supermassive black hole binaries. We release the code used for computing the model light curves to the community.

17 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables. Accepted to Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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• Spitzer Observations of the Predicted Eddington Flare from Blazar OJ 287
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• General purpose ray-tracing and polarized radiative transfer in General Relativity
• Multiband optical variability of the blazar OJ 287 during its outbursts in 2015 -- 2016
• Accretion Disk Parameters determined from the great 2015 flare of OJ 287
• Optical Emission Model for Binary Black Hole Merger Remnants Travelling through Discs of Active Galactic Nuclei
• A Multi-wavelength View of OJ 287 Activity in 2015-2017: Implications of Spectral Changes on Central-engine Models and MeV-GeV Emission Mechanism
• Repeating Nuclear Transients as Candidate Electromagnetic Counterparts of LISA Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals
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• The Secular Periodic Evolution of X-ray Quasi-periodic Eruptions Driven by Star-disc Collisions
• Dark Matter Constraints from the Eccentric Supermassive Black Hole Binary OJ 287
• Testing the Shock-cooling Emission Model from Star-Disk Collisions for Quasiperiodic Eruptions
• Modelling general-relativistic disk in OJ 287
• The Unique Blazar OJ 287 and its Massive Binary Black Hole Central Engine