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  1. OA@INAF
  2. PRODOTTI RICERCA INAF
  3. 1 CONTRIBUTI IN RIVISTE (Journal articles)
  4. 1.01 Articoli in rivista
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/31338
Title: Unveiling Sub-pc Supermassive Black Hole Binary Candidates in Active Galactic Nuclei
Authors: SERAFINELLI, ROBERTO 
SEVERGNINI, Paola 
BRAITO, Valentina 
DELLA CECA, Roberto 
Vignali, C
AMBROSINO, Filippo 
CICONE, CLAUDIA 
Zaino, A
Dotti, M
Sesana, A
Gianolli, VE
Ballo, L
LA PAROLA, VALENTINA 
Matzeu, GA
Issue Date: 2020
Journal: THE ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL 
Number: 902
Issue: 1
First Page: 10
Abstract: The elusive supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) are thought to be the penultimate stage of galaxy mergers, preceding a final coalescence phase. SMBHBs are sources of continuous gravitational waves, possibly detectable by pulsar timing arrays; the identification of candidates could help in performing targeted gravitational wave searches. Due to SMBHBs’ origin in the innermost parts of active galactic nuclei (AGN), X-rays are a promising tool for unveiling their presence, by means of either double Fe Kα emission lines or periodicity in their light curve. Here we report on a new method for selecting SMBHBs by means of the presence of a periodic signal in their Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) 105 month light curves. Our technique is based on Fisher’s exact g-test and takes into account the possible presence of colored noise. Among the 553 AGN selected for our investigation, only the Seyfert 1.5 galaxy Mrk 915 emerges as a candidate SMBHB; from subsequent analysis of its light curve we find a period P0 = 35 ± 2 months, and the null hypothesis is rejected at the 3.7σ confidence level. We also present a detailed analysis of the BAT light curve of the only previously X-ray-selected binary candidate source in the literature, the Seyfert 2 galaxy MCG+11-11-032. We find P0 = 26.3 ± 0.6 months, consistent with the one inferred from previously reported double Fe Kα emission lines.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/31338
URL: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/abb3c3
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85092643873
ISSN: 0004-637X
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/abb3c3
Bibcode ADS: 2020ApJ...902...10S
Fulltext: open
Appears in Collections:1.01 Articoli in rivista

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