Optical Monitoring of PKS 1510-089: A Binary Black Hole System?

Abstract

Three deep flux minima were observed with nearly the same time-scales and intervals for the blazar PKS 1510-089 in the past few years. A binary black hole system was proposed to be at the nucleus of this object, and a new minimum was predicted to occur in 2002 March. We monitored this source with a 60/90 cm Schmidt telescope from 2002 February to April. In combination with the data obtained by Xie et al. (2004) in the same period, we presented for the 2002 minimum a nearly symmetric light curve, which would be required by an eclipsing model of a binary black hole system. We also constrained the time-scale of the minimum to be 35 min, which is more consistent with the time-scales ~42 min of the three previous minima than the 89 min time-scale given by the same authors. The wiggling miniarcsecond radio jet observed in this object is taken as a further evidence for the binary black hole system. The `coupling' of the periodicity in light curve and the helicity in radio jet is discussed in the framework of a binary black hole system.

arXiv comment5 pages, 4 figures, accepted by MNRAS

References in corpus (15)

• Multi-Epoch VLBA Observations of EGRET-Detected Quasars and BL Lac Objects: Superluminal Motion of Gamma-Ray Bright Blazars
• Sub-milliarcsecond Imaging of Quasars and AGN
• Optical and radio variability of the BL Lac object AO 0235+16: a possible 5-6 year periodicity
• Historic Light Curve and Long-term Optical Variation of BL Lacertae 2200+420
• Parsec-Scale Blazar Monitoring: Proper Motions
• Helical jets in blazars. Interpretation of the multifrequency long-term variability of AO 0235+16
• Observations of TeV gamma ray flares from Markarian 501 with the Telescope Array Prototype
• Optical Monitoring of BL Lac Object S5 0716+714 with High Temporal Resolution
• Can long-term periodic variability and jet helicity in 3C 120 be explained by jet precession?
• Precession in the inner jet of 3C 345
• 15 colour photometry of Landolt SA95 standard star field
• Black hole mass and binary model for BL Lac object OJ 287
• PKS 1510-089: A Head-On View of a Relativistic Jet
• 86, 43, and 22 GHz VLBI Observations of 3C120
• The twisted parsec-scale structure of 0735+178

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Extremely violent optical microvariability in blazars: fact or fiction?
• Transient Quasi-Periodic Oscillations at $\gamma$-rays in the TeV Blazar PKS 1510-089
• Optical Intraday Variability Studies of Ten Low Energy Peaked Blazars
• Short Term Flux and Colour Variations in Low-Energy Peaked Blazars
• Multiwavelength variability study and search for periodicity of PKS 1510-089
• Correlation between optical and $\gamma$-ray flux variations in bright flat spectrum radio quasars
• Optical Photometrical Observations and Variability for Quasar 4C 29.45
• The optical variability of SDSS quasars from multi-epoch spectroscopy: I. Results from 60 quasars with $\ge$ six-epoch spectra
• Optical intra-day variability in 3C 66A: 10 years of observations
• Optical variability in IBL S5 0716+714 during the 2013-2015 outburst
• Multicolour Optical Variability Monitoring of Blazars with High Time Resolution
• Astrophysics in 2005