Detection of a quasi-periodic oscillation in the optical light curve of the remarkable blazar AO 0235+164

Abstract

We present a long term optical $R$ band light curve analysis of the gravitationally lensed blazar AO 0235+164 in the time span 1982 - 2019. Several methods of analysis lead to the result that there is a periodicity of ~8.13 years present in these data. In addition, each of these five major flares are apparently double-peaked, with the secondary peak following the primary one by ~2 years. Along with the well known system, OJ 287, our finding constitutes one of the most secure cases of long term quasi-periodic optical behaviour in a blazar ever found. A binary supermassive black hole system appears to provide a good explanation for these results.

7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Multiwavelength periodicity search in a sample of $\gamma$-ray bright blazars
• The optical behaviour of BL Lacertae at its maximum brightness levels: a blend of geometry and energetics
• Quasi-periodic oscillation detected in $\gamma$-rays in blazar PKS 0346-27
• Multiwavelength variability of the blazar AO 0235+164
• Revisiting radio variability of the blazar 3C 454.3
• Transient QPOs of Fermi-LAT blazars under the Curved Jet Model
• Multiwavelength Variability Analysis of the Blazar PKS 0727-11: A $\sim$168 Days Quasi-periodic Oscillation in Gamma-ray
• Variability Study and Searching for QPOs with day-like periods in the blazar S5 0716+714 with TESS
• Multi-Band Optical Variability of Blazar 1ES 2344+514 on Diverse Time-Scales
• Parsec-scale jet precession and a putative supermassive binary black hole system in the blazar AO 0235+164