An Improved Test of the Binary Black Hole Hypothesis for Quasars with Double-peaked Broad Balmer Lines

Abstract

Velocity offsets in the broad Balmer lines of quasars and their temporal variations serve as indirect evidence for bound supermassive black hole binaries (SBHBs) at sub-parsec separations. In this work, we test the SBHB hypothesis for 14 quasars with double-peaked broad emission lines using their long-term (14--41 years) radial velocity curves. We improve on previous work by (a) using elliptical instead of circular orbits for the SBHBs, (b) adopting a statistical model for radial velocity jitter, (c) employing a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to explore the orbital parameter space efficiently and build posterior distributions of physical parameters and (d) incorporating new observations. We determine empirically that jitter comprises approximately Gaussian distributed fluctuations about the smooth radial velocity curves that are larger than the measurement errors by factors of order a few. We initially treat jitter by enlarging the effective error bars and then verify this approach via a variety of Gaussian process models for it. We find lower mass limits for the hypothesized SBHBs in the range $10^8$--$10^{11}{M}_{\odot }$. For seven objects the SBHB scenario appears unlikely based on goodness-of-fit tests. For two additional objects the minimum SBHB masses are unreasonably large ($>10^{10}{M}_{\odot }$), strongly disfavoring the SBHB scenario. Using constraints on the orbital inclination angle (which requires some assumptions) makes the minimum masses of four more objects unreasonably large. We also cite physical and observational arguments against the SBHB hypothesis for nine objects. We conclude that the SBHB explanation is not the favoured explanation of double-peaked broad emission lines.

arXiv comment27 pages, accepted by MNRAS

References in corpus (96)

• emcee: The MCMC Hammer
• SparsePak: A Formatted Fiber Field Unit for The WIYN Telescope Bench Spectrograph. I. Design, Construction, and Calibration
• The Low-Luminosity End of the Radius-Luminosity Relationship for Active Galactic Nuclei
• Optimal Techniques in Two-dimensional Spectroscopy: Background Subtraction for the 21st Century
• Discovery of a binary AGN in the ultraluminous infrared galaxy NGC 6240 using Chandra
• Black Hole Spin and the Radio Loud/Quiet Dichotomy of Active Galactic Nuclei
• The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array Project
• CRATES: An All-Sky Survey of Flat-Spectrum Radio Sources
• The North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves
• A Compact Supermassive Binary Black Hole System
• Doppler factors, Lorentz factors and viewing angles for quasars, BL Lacertae objects and radio galaxies
• Evolution of massive binary black holes
• A massive binary black-hole system in OJ287 and a test of general relativity
• Accretion during the merger of supermassive black holes
• Massive black hole binary mergers within sub-pc scale gas discs
• A possible close supermassive black-hole binary in a quasar with optical periodicity
• A systematic search for close supermassive black hole binaries in the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey
• Alignment of the spins of supermassive black holes prior to coalescence
• False periodicities in quasar time-domain surveys
• Supermassive black hole binaries in gaseous and stellar circumnuclear discs: orbital dynamics and gas accretion
• A Population of Short-Period Variable Quasars from PTF as Supermassive Black Hole Binary Candidates
• Completion of a Survey and Detailed Study of Double-Peaked Emission Lines in Radio-Loud AGNs
• The Role of Gas in the Merging of Massive Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei. I. Black Hole Merging in a Spherical Gas Cloud
• A Large Systematic Search for Recoiling and Close Supermassive Binary Black Holes
• The Evolution of Early-Type Galaxies in Distant Clusters II: Internal Kinematics of 55 Galaxies in the z=0.33 Cluster CL1358+62
• Double-Peaked Low-Ionization Emission Lines in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Chaotic Loss Cones, Black Hole Fueling and the M-Sigma Relation
• The VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey at 5 GHz
• Limiting eccentricity of sub-parsec massive black hole binaries surrounded by self-gravitating gas discs
• Inspiralling Supermassive Black Holes: A New Signpost for Galaxy Mergers
• The Lick AGN Monitoring Project 2011: Spectroscopic Campaign and Emission-Line Light Curves
• A Search for Binary Active Galactic Nuclei: Double-Peaked [OIII] AGN in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Black hole mergers: can gas discs solve the `final parsec' problem?
• The MagE Spectrograph
• Type 2 AGNs with Double-Peaked [O III] Lines: Narrow Line Region Kinematics or Merging Supermassive Black Hole Pairs?
• The Parkes Half-Jansky Flat-Spectrum Sample
• 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
• Evolution of binary black holes in self gravitating discs: dissecting the torques
• Supermassive Black Hole Binary Evolution in Axisymmetric Galaxies: the final parsec problem is not a problem
• The final-parsec problem in the collisionless limit
• Dual black holes in merger remnants. II: spin evolution and gravitational recoil
• Binary Black Hole Accretion Flows in Merged Galactic Nuclei
• A 17-billion-solar-mass black hole in a group galaxy with a diffuse core
• Discovery of Four kpc-Scale Binary AGNs
• A systematic search for massive black hole binaries in SDSS spectroscopic sample
• Evolution of the Nuclear Accretion Disk Emission in NGC 1097: Getting Closer to the Black Hole
• Dynamical Measurements of Black Hole Masses in Four Brightest Cluster Galaxies at 100 Mpc
• Identifying Supermassive Black Hole Binaries with Broad Emission Line Diagnosis
• A 1.75 kpc/h Separation Dual AGN at z=0.36 in the COSMOS Field
• Rejection of the Binary Broad-Line Region Interpretation of Double-Peaked Emission Lines in Three Active Galactic Nuclei
• Mergers in Double-Peaked [O III] Active Galactic Nuclei
• Steps toward Determination of the Size and Structure of the Broad-Line Region in Active Galactic Nuclei. XII. Ground-Based Monitoring of 3C 390.3
• Long-Term Profile Variability of Double Peaked Emission Lines in Active Galactic Nuclei
• Evidence for Binary Orbital Motion of a Quasar Broad-Line Region
• Mergers of Unequal Mass Galaxies: Supermassive Black Hole Binary Evolution and Structure of Merger Remnants
• Constraining sub-Parsec Binary Supermassive Black Holes in Quasars with Multi-Epoch Spectroscopy. I. The General Quasar Population
• A Periodically Varying Luminous Quasar at z=2 from the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey: A Candidate Supermassive Black Hole Binary in the Gravitational Wave-Driven Regime
• Constraining the Orbit of Supermassive Black Hole Binary 0402+379
• Radio structures of the nuclei of nearby Seyfert galaxies and the nature of the missing diffuse emission
• Constraining Sub-Parsec Binary Supermassive Black Holes in Quasars with Multi-Epoch Spectroscopy. II. The Population with Kinematically Offset Broad Balmer Emission Lines
• Long-Term Profile Variability in Active Galactic Nuclei with Double-Peaked Balmer Emission Lines
• A Large Systematic Search for Close Supermassive Binary and Rapidly Recoiling Black Holes - III. Radial Velocity Variations
• Dual black holes in merger remnants. I: linking accretion to dynamics
• Massive black hole pairs in clumpy, self-gravitating circumnuclear disks: stochastic orbital decay
• Galaxy Rotation and Rapid Supermassive Black Hole Binary Coalescence
• Black Hole Masses of Active Galaxies with Double-Peaked Balmer Emission Lines
• Constraining Sub-Parsec Binary Supermassive Black Holes in Quasars with Multi-Epoch Spectroscopy. III. Candidates from Continued Radial Velocity Tests
• Massive black hole binary eccentricity in rotating stellar systems
• Alignment of supermassive black hole binary orbits and spins
• Accurate Redshifts and Classifications for 110 Radio-Loud AGNs
• A Systematic Search for Periodically Varying Quasars in Pan-STARRS1: An Extended Baseline Test in Medium Deep Survey Field MD09
• HI Observations of the Supermassive Binary Black Hole System in 0402+379
• Intermediate resolution H-beta spectroscopy and photometric monitoring of 3C 390.3 I. Further evidence of a nuclear accretion disk
• A new mechanism for massive binary black hole evolution
• Migration of massive black hole binaries in self--gravitating accretion discs: Retrograde versus prograde
• A Large Systematic Search for Close Supermassive Binary and Rapidly Recoiling Black Holes - II. Continued Spectroscopic Monitoring and Optical Flux Variability
• The nature of massive black hole binary candidates: I. Spectral properties and evolution
• Evidence for a Starburst within 9 pc of the Active Nucleus of NGC 1097
• Is there a maximum mass for black holes in galactic nuclei?
• A Radial Velocity Test for Supermassive Black Hole Binaries as an Explanation for Broad, Double-Peaked Emission Lines in Active Galactic Nuclei
• The orientation dependence of quasar single-epoch black hole mass scaling relationships
• Spectral optical monitoring of the double peaked emission line AGN Arp 102B: II. Variability of the broad line properties
• Binaries of massive black holes in rotating clusters: Dynamics, gravitational waves, detection and the role of eccentricity
• The Peculiar Balmer Line Profiles of OQ 208
• Emission Signatures from Sub-parsec Binary Supermassive Black Holes I: Diagnostic Power of Broad Emission Lines
• The Link Between Ejected Stars, Hardening and Eccentricity Growth of Super Massive Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei
• The Viewing Angles of Broad Absorption Line Versus Unabsorbed Quasars
• Emission Signatures from Sub-parsec Binary Supermassive Black Holes II: Effect of Accretion Disk Wind on Broad Emission Lines
• Super massive black holes in star forming gaseous circumnuclear discs
• Short timescale variations of the Hα double-peaked profile of the nucleus of NGC 1097
• Short-Timescale monitoring of the X-ray, UV and broad double-peak emission line of the nucleus of NGC 1097
• The optical variability of SDSS quasars from multi-epoch spectroscopy: I. Results from 60 quasars with $\ge$ six-epoch spectra
• Spectral optical monitoring of a double-peaked emission line AGN Arp 102B: I. Variability of spectral lines and continuum
• Outflow Angles, Bulk Lorentz Factors, and Kinematics of Outflows from the Cores of AGN
• Energy Extraction from Spinning Black Holes via Relativistic Jets
• Correlation between Line Width and Line Flux of Double-Peaked Broad Halpha of 3C390.3

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Multi-messenger Time-domain Signatures Of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
• Considerations for the Observability of Kinematically Offset Binary AGN
• Dynamical evidence of the sub-parsec counter-rotating disc for a close binary of supermassive black holes in the nucleus of NGC 1068
• An Amusing Look at the Host of the Periodic Nuclear Transient ASASSN-14ko Reveals a Second AGN
• Linear Spectropolarimetric Analysis of Fairall 9 with VLT/FORS2
• Final stage of merging binaries of supermassive black holes: observational signatures
• SVM-Lattice: A Recognition & Evaluation Frame for Double-peaked Profiles
• Velocity offset between emission and absorption lines might be an effective indicator of dual core system
• Searching for supermassive black holes binaries within SRG/eROSITA-De I: Properties of the X-ray selected candidates
• A Treasure Hunt in the Pool of Spectra Classified as High-redshift QSOs by the Spectroscopic Pipeline of the SDSS DR16