Absence of the predicted 2022 October outburst of OJ 287 and implications for binary SMBH scenarios

Abstract

The project MOMO (Multiwavelength Observations and Modelling of OJ 287) was set up to test predictions of binary supermassive black hole (SMBH) scenarios and to understand disk-jet physics of the blazar OJ 287. After a correction, the precessing binary (PB) SMBH model predicted the next main outburst of OJ 287 in 2022 October, no longer in July, making the outburst well observable and the model testable. We have densely covered this period in our ongoing multi-frequency radio, optical, UV, and X-ray monitoring. The predicted outburst was not detected. Instead, OJ 287 was at low optical-UV emission levels, declining further into November. The predicted thermal bremsstrahlung spectrum was not observed either, at any epoch. Further, applying scaling relations, we estimate a SMBH mass of OJ 287 of 10^8 M_sun. The latest in a sequence of deep low-states that recur every 1-2 yrs is used to determine an upper limit on the Eddington ratio and on the accretion-disk luminosity. This limit is at least a factor of 10 lower than required by the PB model with its massive primary SMBH of >10^{10} M_sun. All these results favor alternative binary SMBH models of OJ 287 that neither require strong orbital precession nor a very large mass of the primary SMBH.

MNRAS Letter, in press

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Precession-induced Variability in AGN Jets and OJ 287
• A multi-frequency study of sub-parsec jets with the Event Horizon Telescope
• On the need of an ultramassive black hole in OJ 287
• Revealing a ribbon-like jet in OJ 287 with RadioAstron
• Observational Implications of OJ 287's Predicted 2022 Disk Impact in the Black Hole Binary Model
• Unveiling the Bent Jet Structure and Polarization of OJ 287 at 1.7 GHz with Space VLBI
• The evolution of a supermassive binary black hole in an non-spherical nuclear star cluster