Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T18:24:19.377Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Statistical Method for Detecting Gravitational Recoils of Supermassive Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2017

P. Raffai*
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics, Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Budapest, Hungary MTA-ELTE EIRSA ”Lendület” Astrophysics Research Group, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
B. Bécsy
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics, Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Budapest, Hungary MTA-ELTE EIRSA ”Lendület” Astrophysics Research Group, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
Z. Haiman
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
Z. Frei
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics, Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Budapest, Hungary MTA-ELTE EIRSA ”Lendület” Astrophysics Research Group, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
*
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We propose an observational test for gravitationally recoiling supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei, based on a positive correlation between the velocities of black holes relative to their host galaxies, |Δv|, and their obscuring dust column densities, Σdust, both measured along the line of sight. Our findings using a set of toy models implemented to a Monte Carlo simulation imply that models of the galactic centre and of recoil dynamics can be tested by future observations of the potential Σdust–|Δv| correlation. We have also found that the fraction of obscured quasars decreases with |Δv|, for which the predicted trend can be compared to the observed fraction of type II quasars, and can further test combinations of models we may implement.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2017 

References

Aller, M. C. & Richstone, D. 2002, AJ, 124, 3035 Google Scholar
Baker, J. G., et al. 2008, ApJ, 682, L29 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blecha, L., et al. 2016, MNRAS, 456, 961 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonning, E. W., Shields, G. A., & Salviander, S. 2007, ApJ, 666, L13 Google Scholar
Greig, B., et al. 2016, eprint arXiv:1605.09388Google Scholar
Healy, J., Lousto, C. O., & Zlochower, Y. 2014, PRD, 90, 104004 Google Scholar
Hönig, S. F. 2008, Dr. rer. nat. dissertation, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, BonnGoogle Scholar
Komossa, S. 2012, Adv. in Astr., 2012, 364973 Google Scholar
Ledoux, C., et al. 2015, A&A, 580, A8 Google Scholar
Leigh, N., Böker, T., & Knigge, C. 2012, MNRAS, 424, 2130 Google Scholar
Loeb, A. 2007, Phys. Rev. Lett., 99, id. 041103Google Scholar
Madau, P. & Quataert, E. 2004, ApJ, 606, L17 Google Scholar
Pâris, et al. 2016, eprint arXiv:1608.06483Google Scholar
Raffai, P., Haiman, Z., & Frei, Z. 2016, MNRAS, 455, 484 Google Scholar
Reynolds, C. S. 2013, CQG, 30, 244004 Google Scholar
Schartmann, M., et al. 2005, A&A, 437, 861 Google Scholar
Tanaka, T. & Haiman, Z. 2009, ApJ, 696, 1798 CrossRefGoogle Scholar