A self-lensing binary massive black hole interpretation of quasi-periodic eruptions

Abstract

Binary supermassive black hole (SMBH) systems result from galaxy mergers, and will eventually coalesce due to gravitational wave (GW) emission if the binary separation can be reduced to $\lesssim 0.1$ pc by other mechanisms. Here, we explore a gravitational self-lensing binary SMBH model for the sharp (duration $\sim 1$ hr), quasi-regular X-ray flares -- dubbed quasi-periodic eruptions -- recently observed from two low mass active galactic nuclei: GSN 069 and RX J1301.9+2747. In our model, the binary is observed $\sim$edge-on, such that each SMBH gravitationally lenses light from the accretion disc surrounding the other SMBH twice per orbital period. The model can reproduce the flare spacings if the current eccentricity of RX J1301.9+2747 is ${\epsilon }_0\gtrsim 0.16$, implying a merger within $\sim 1000$ yrs. However, we cannot reproduce the observed flare profiles with our current calculations. Model flares with the correct amplitude are $\sim 2/5$ the observed duration, and model flares with the correct duration are $\sim 2/5$ the observed amplitude. Our modelling yields three distinct behaviours of self-lensing binary systems that can be searched for in current and future X-ray and optical time-domain surveys: i) periodic lensing flares, ii) partial eclipses (caused by occultation of the background mini-disc by the foreground mini-disc), and iii) partial eclipses with a very sharp in-eclipse lensing flare. Discovery of such features would constitute very strong evidence for the presence of a supermassive binary, and monitoring of the flare spacings will provide a measurement of periastron precession.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (62)

• On the Absorption of X-rays in the Interstellar Medium
• Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
• Modelling the behaviour of accretion flows in X-ray binaries
• The construction and use of LISA sensitivity curves
• Discovery of a binary AGN in the ultraluminous infrared galaxy NGC 6240 using Chandra
• A Compact Supermassive Binary Black Hole System
• An Eccentric Circumbinary Accretion Disk and the Detection of Binary Massive Black Holes
• Formation of gas disks in merging galaxies
• Binary Black Hole Accretion From a Circumbinary Disk: Gas Dynamics Inside the Central Cavity
• A review of quasi-periodic oscillations from black hole X-ray binaries: observation and theory
• A possible close supermassive black-hole binary in a quasar with optical periodicity
• Gravitational Microlensing in the Local Group
• A systematic search for close supermassive black hole binaries in the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey
• Long Term Evolution of Massive Black Hole Binaries
• False periodicities in quasar time-domain surveys
• Nine-hour X-ray quasi-periodic eruptions from a low-mass black hole galactic nucleus
• Accretion into the Central Cavity of a Circumbinary Disk
• A Population of Short-Period Variable Quasars from PTF as Supermassive Black Hole Binary Candidates
• A Fast New Public Code for Computing Photon Orbits in a Kerr Spacetime
• Eccentricity of supermassive black hole binaries coalescing from gas rich mergers
• X-ray quasi-periodic eruptions from the galactic nucleus of RX J1301.9+2747
• Relativistic boost as the cause of periodicity in a massive black-hole binary candidate
• The faint "heartbeats" of IGR J17091-3624: an exceptional black-hole candidate
• Bardeen-Petterson Alignment, Jets and Magnetic Truncation in GRMHD Simulations of Tilted Thin Accretion Discs
• The late inspiral of supermassive black hole binaries with circumbinary gas discs in the LISA band
• Observational Signatures of Binary Supermassive Black Holes
• Characteristic Signatures in the Thermal Emission from Accreting Binary Black Holes
• GSN 069 -- A Tidal Disruption Near-Miss
• A public relativistic transfer function model for X-ray reverberation mapping of accreting black holes
• Three Dimensional MHD Simulation of Circumbinary Accretion Disks -2. Net Accretion Rate
• Equilibrium eccentricity of accreting binaries
• Electromagnetic Emission from Supermassive Binary Black Holes Approaching Merger
• Disc tearing: implications for black hole accretion and AGN variability
• Gravitational waves from inspiralling compact binaries: Angular momentum flux, evolution of the orbital elements and the wave form to the second post-Newtonian order
• Periodic self-lensing from accreting massive black hole binaries
• Massive Black Hole binaries in gas-rich galaxy mergers; multiple regimes of orbital decay and interplay with gas inflows
• Quasi-Periodic Behavior of Mini-Disks in Binary Black Holes Approaching Merger
• A candidate sub-parsec binary black hole in the Seyfert galaxy NGC 7674
• Tomographic reflection modelling of quasi-periodic oscillations in the black hole binary H 1743-322
• Relativistic Dynamics and Mass Exchange in Binary Black Hole Mini-Disks
• The electromagnetic chirp of a compact binary black hole: a phase template for the gravitational wave inspiral
• Gravitational waves from eccentric compact binaries: Reduction in signal-to-noise ratio due to nonoptimal signal processing
• Minidisks in Binary Black Hole Accretion
• A long decay of X-ray flux and spectral evolution in the supersoft active galactic nucleus GSN 069
• NGC6240: A triple nucleus system in the advanced or final state of merging
• Discovery of a close-separation binary quasar at the heart of a z~0.2 merging galaxy and its implications for low-frequency gravitational waves
• Occultation and Microlensing
• Ripple effects & oscillations in the broad FeKa line as a probe of massive black hole mergers
• RX J1301.9+2747: A Highly Variable Seyfert Galaxy with Extremely Soft X-ray Emission
• Spikey: Self-Lensing Flares from Eccentric SMBH Binaries
• YNOGK: A new public code for calculating null geodesics in the Kerr spacetime
• Binary Active Galactic Nuclei in Stripe 82: Constraints on Synchronized Black Hole Accretion in Major Mergers
• Propagating mass accretion rate fluctuations in X-ray binaries under the influence of viscous diffusion
• Characterizing Spinning Black Hole Binaries in Eccentric Orbits with LISA
• The view of AGN-host alignment via reflection spectroscopy
• Discovery of GRS 1915+105 variability patterns in the Rapid Burster
• The slow heartbeats of an ultra-luminous X-ray source in NGC 3621
• Active Nucleus in a Poststarburst Galaxy : KUG 1259+280
• Doppler disc tomography applied to low mass AGN spin
• The Polarization of X-rays from Warped Black Hole Accretion Disks
• A self-lensing supermassive binary black hole at radio frequencies: the story of Spikey continues
• A Model of Low-Frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Black Hole X-Ray Binaries

Cited by in corpus (49)

• Possible X-ray Quasi-Periodic Eruptions in a Tidal Disruption Event Candidate
• Quasi-periodic eruptions from impacts between the secondary and a rigidly precessing accretion disc in an extreme mass-ratio inspiral system
• X-ray Quasi-periodic Eruptions driven by Star-Disc Collisions : Application to GSN069 and Probing the Spin of Massive Black Holes
• Interacting Stellar EMRIs as Sources of Quasi-Periodic Eruptions in Galactic Nuclei
• Repeating tidal disruptions in GSN 069: Long-term evolution and constraints on quasi-periodic eruptions' models
• Stellar transits across a magnetized accretion torus as a mechanism for plasmoid ejection
• Host galaxy properties of quasi-periodically erupting X-ray sources
• Quasi--Periodic Eruptions from Galaxy Nuclei
• Tormund's return: Hints of quasi-periodic eruption features from a recent optical tidal disruption event
• Quasi-Periodic Erupters: A Stellar Mass-Transfer Model for the Radiation
• A disk instability model for the quasi-periodic eruptions of GSN 069
• Quasi-periodic Eruptions from Helium Envelope of Hydrogen-deficient Stars Stripped by Supermassive Black Holes
• Magnetically Dominated Disks in Tidal Disruption Events and Quasi-Periodic Eruptions
• The complex time and energy evolution of quasi-periodic eruptions in eRO-QPE1
• Modified models of radiation pressure instability in application to 10, 10${}^5$, and 10${}^7$ $M_{\odot }$ accreting black holes
• Electromagnetic Signatures from Supermassive Binary Black Holes Approaching Merger
• Evidence of a tidal disruption event in GSN 069 from the abnormal carbon and nitrogen abundance ratio
• Probing orbits of stellar mass objects deep in galactic nuclei with quasi-periodic eruptions
• Self-lensing flares from black hole binaries I: general-relativistic ray tracing of black hole binaries
• Evolution of a Relativistic Outflow and X-ray Corona in the Extreme Changing-Look AGN 1ES 1927+654
• Application of the disk instability model to all Quasi-Periodic Eruptions
• Milli-Hertz Gravitational Wave Background Produced by Quasi-Periodic Eruptions
• Gravitational Self-Lensing in Populations of Massive Black Hole Binaries
• Probing orbits of stellar mass objects deep in galactic nuclei with quasi-periodic eruptions -- II: population analysis
• Self-lensing flares from black hole binaries II: observing black hole shadows via light-curve tomography
• Alive but Barely Kicking: News from 3+ years of Swift and XMM-Newton X-ray Monitoring of Quasi-Periodic Eruptions from eRO-QPE1
• MOMO IV: The complete Swift X-ray and UV/optical light curve and characteristic variability of the blazar OJ 287 during the last two decades
• Repeating Nuclear Transients as Candidate Electromagnetic Counterparts of LISA Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals
• Eppur si muove: Evidence of disc precession or a sub-milliparsec SMBH binary in the QPE-emitting galaxy GSN 069
• Predicting the self-lensing population in optical surveys
• Variability In A Low-Mass AGN: Oscillation Or Eruption?
• Particle Dynamics and Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in the GUP-Modified Schwarzschild Spacetime: Constraint Using Micro-Quasars Data
• Observing white dwarf tidal stripping with TianQin gravitational wave observatory
• Forward Ray Tracing and Hot Spots in Kerr Spacetime
• Recurrent X-ray flares of the black hole candidate in the globular cluster RZ 2109 in NGC 4472
• The Secular Periodic Evolution of X-ray Quasi-periodic Eruptions Driven by Star-disc Collisions
• Impact of a binary black hole on its outer circumbinary disc
• Tidal disruption event associated with the quasi-periodic eruptions from GSN 069: Possible disruption of a common envelope
• Searching for Quasi-Periodic Eruptions using Machine Learning
• Gravitational Radiation-Driven Chaotic Tide in a White Dwarf-Massive Black Hole Binary as a Source of Repeating X-ray Transients
• Viscous torque in turbulent magnetized AGN accretion disks and its effects on EMRI's gravitational waves
• Testing the Shock-cooling Emission Model from Star-Disk Collisions for Quasiperiodic Eruptions
• Apparently ultra-long period radio sources from self-lensed pulsar-black hole binaries
• Constraining the environment of compact binary mergers with self-lensing signatures
• Sculpting the outer edge of accretion disks in pre-circumbinary binary black hole systems
• Microlensing Black Hole Shadows
• Repeating Nuclear Transients from Repeating Partial Tidal Disruption Events
• Gravitational Wave Signatures of Quasi-Periodic Eruptions: LISA Detection Prospects for RX J1301.9+2747
• Constraints on the accretion properties of quasi-periodic erupters from GRMHD simulations