MOMO VI: Multifrequency radio variability of the blazar OJ 287 from 2015-2022, absence of predicted 2021 precursor-flare activity, and a new binary interpretation of the 2016/2017 outburst

Abstract

Based on our dedicated Swift monitoring program, MOMO, OJ 287 is one of the best-monitored blazars in the X-ray--UV--optical regime. Here, we report results from our accompanying, dense, multi-frequency (1.4--44 GHz) radio monitoring of OJ 287 between 2015 and 2022 covering a broad range of activity states. Fermi gamma-ray observations are added. We characterize the radio flux and spectral variability in detail, including DCF and other variability analyses, and discuss its connection with the multiwavelength emission. Deep fades of radio and optical--UV fluxes are found to occur every 1--2 years. Further, it is shown that a precursor flare of thermal bremsstrahlung predicted by one of the binary supermassive black hole (SMBH) models of OJ 287 was absent. We then focus on the nature of the extraordinary, nonthermal 2016/2017 outburst that we initially discovered with Swift. We interpret it as the latest of the famous optical double-peaked outbursts of OJ 287, favoring binary scenarios that do not require a highly precessing secondary SMBH.

ApJ, in press. The full radio-data tables will be available in the online material of the journal. Note that in a follow-up publication (MNRAS Letters, in press), the black hole mass of OJ 287 will be revised

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Bayesian Limits on Gravitational Waves from Individual Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
• Absence of the predicted 2022 October outburst of OJ 287 and implications for binary SMBH scenarios
• A blazar in the epoch of reionization
• Revealing a ribbon-like jet in OJ 287 with RadioAstron
• Clues on the nature of the quasi-periodic optical outbursts of the blazar OJ 287
• Discovery of a giant radio outburst of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy SDSS J110546.07+145202.4
• On the Spectral Changes of OJ 287: The Lowest X-ray state Spectrum -- extended at Optical-UV and Hard at X-rays
• Searching for continuous gravitational waves in the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array Data Release 3
• Gravitational signatures beyond Newton: exploring hierarchical three-body dynamics
• Sun-related variability in the light curves of compact radio sources. A new view on Extreme Scattering Events
• Different Jet Dissipation Mechanisms Underlying the Variability in Blazars