AGNs on the Move: A Search for Off-nuclear AGNs from Recoiling Supermassive Black Holes and Ongoing Galaxy Mergers with the Zwicky Transient Facility

被引：16

作者：

Ward, Charlotte ^{[1
]}

Gezari, Suvi ^{[1
,2
]}

Frederick, Sara ^{[1
]}

Hammerstein, Erica ^{[1
]}

Nugent, Peter ^{[3
,4
]}

van Velzen, Sjoert ^{[1
,5
]}

Drake, Andrew ^{[6
]}

Garcia-Perez, Abigail ^{[7
]}

Oyoo, Immaculate ^{[8
]}

Bellm, Eric C. ^{[9
]}

Duev, Dmitry A. ^{[6
]}

Graham, Matthew J. ^{[6
]}

Kasliwal, Mansi M. ^{[6
]}

Kaye, Stephen ^{[10
]}

Mahabal, Ashish A. ^{[6
,11
]}

Masci, Frank J. ^{[12
]}

Rusholme, Ben ^{[12
]}

Soumagnac, Maayane T. ^{[3
,13
]}

Yan, Lin ^{[10
]}

机构：

[1] Univ Maryland, Dept Astron, College Pk, MD 20742 USA

[2] Space Telescope Sci Inst, 3700 San Martin Dr, Baltimore, MD 21218 USA

[3] Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab, 1 Cyclotron Rd, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA

[4] Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Astron, 601 Campbell Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA

[5] NYU, Ctr Cosmol & Particle Phys, New York, NY 10003 USA

[6] CALTECH, Div Phys Math & Astron, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA

[7] Inst Nacl Astrofis Opt & Electr, Tonantzintla 72840, Puebla, Mexico

[8] Prince Georges Community Coll, Largo, MD 20774 USA

[9] Univ Washington, Dept Astron, DIRAC Inst, 3910 15th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98195 USA

[10] CALTECH, Caltech Opt Observ, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA

[11] CALTECH, Ctr Data Driven Discovery, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA

[12] CALTECH, IPAC, 1200 East Calif Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA

[13] Weizmann Inst Sci, Dept Particle Phys & Astrophys, IL-76100 Rehovot, Israel

来源：

ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL | 2021年 / 913卷 / 02期

基金：

英国科学技术设施理事会; 美国国家科学基金会;

关键词：

ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI; PEAKED EMISSION-LINES; GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE; SOLAR MASSES; SDSS; OBJECTS; GAS; VLA; CLASSIFICATION; CANDIDATES;

D O I：

10.3847/1538-4357/abf246

中图分类号：

P1 [天文学];

学科分类号：

0704 ;

摘要：

A supermassive black hole (SMBH) ejected from the potential well of its host galaxy via gravitational wave recoil carries important information about the mass ratio and spin alignment of the pre-merger SMBH binary. Such a recoiling SMBH may be detectable as an active galactic nucleus (AGN) broad-line region offset by up to 10 kpc from a disturbed host galaxy. We describe a novel methodology using forward modeling with The Tractor to search for such offset AGNs in a sample of 5493 optically variable AGNs detected with the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). We present the discovery of nine AGNs that may be spatially offset from their host galaxies and are candidates for recoiling SMBHs. Five of these offset AGNs exhibit double-peaked broad Balmer lines, which may have arisen from unobscured accretion disk emission, and four show radio emission indicative of a relativistic jet. The fraction of double-peaked emitters in our spatially offset AGN sample is significantly larger than the 16% double-peaked emitter fraction observed for ZTF AGNs overall. In our sample of variable AGNs we also identified 52 merging galaxies, including a new spectroscopically confirmed dual AGN. Finally, we detected the dramatic rebrightening of SDSS 1133, a previously discovered variable object and recoiling SMBH candidate, in ZTF. The flare was accompanied by the reemergence of strong P Cygni line features, indicating that SDSS 1133 may be an outbursting luminous blue variable star.

引用

页数：25