Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19
Yu-Ching Chen
Xin Liu
Adi Foord
Yue Shen
Nianyi Chen
Miguel Holgado
Tiziana Di Matteo
Masamune Oguri
Hsiang-Chih Hwang
Nadia Zakamska
Abstract： Most local massive galaxies, if not all, are believed to harbor a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the center. Galaxy mergers have long been thought to drive strong gas inflows and accretion onto one or both central SMBH, triggering single or dual quasars as a natural stage of the hierarchical galaxy and SMBH evolution. While many dual active galactic nuclei -- the low-luminosity counterparts of quasars -- have been observed at low redshift, no unambiguous dual quasar is known at cosmic noon (z>~2) when both quasar activity and global star formation density peaked. While a handful of dual quasar candidates were known at z>1, competing explanations remained. Here we report multi-wavelength observations of SDSS J0749+2255 as the first kpc-scale dual quasar confirmed to be hosted by a galaxy merger at cosmic noon. Hubble Space Telescope NIR imaging reveals extended host galaxies underlying the compact double nuclei (separated by 0.46" or 3.8 kpc) and tidal features as evidence for galactic interactions. We also present new multi-wavelength observations, all lending support to the dual quasar hypothesis. Unlike the low-redshift low-luminosity counterparts, the high-redshift dual quasar is hosted by two massive compact disk-dominated galaxies, which may be critical for efficient gas fueling onto the SMBHs in the early-stage merger. The apparent lack of stellar bulges and that SDSS J0749+2255 already follows the local SMBH mass-host stellar mass relation are at odds with the canonical SMBH-host co-evolution picture and suggest that at least some SMBHs may have formed before their host stellar bulges. While still at kpc-scale separations where the host-galaxy gravitational potential dominates, the SMBHs may evolve into a gravitationally bound binary system in ~0.22 Gyr. The merger products at low redshift are expected to be gravitational wave sources for pulsar-timing arrays (abridged).
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19
Yue Shen
Hsiang-Chih Hwang
Masamune Oguri
Nianyi Chen
Tiziana Di Matteo
Yueying Ni
Simeon Bird
Nadia Zakamska
Xin Liu
Yu-Ching Chen
Kaitlin M. Kratter
Abstract： The statistics of galactic-scale quasar pairs can elucidate our understanding
of the dynamical evolution of supermassive black hole (SMBH) pairs, the duty
cycles of quasar activity in mergers, or even the nature of dark matter, but
have been challenging to measure at cosmic noon, the prime epoch of massive
galaxy and SMBH formation. Here we measure a double quasar fraction of $\sim
6.2\pm0.5\times 10^{-4}$ integrated over $\sim 0.3-3$ arcsec separations
(projected physical separations of $\sim 3-30\,{\rm kpc}$ at $z\sim 2$) in
luminous ($L_{\rm bol}>10^{45.8}\,{\rm erg\,s^{-1}}$) unobscured quasars at
$1.5
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19
Abstract： Periodic quasars have been suggested as candidates for hosting binary supermassive black holes (SMBHs), although alternative scenarios remain possible to explain the optical light curve periodicity. To test the alternative hypothesis of precessing radio jet, we present deep 6 GHz radio imaging conducted with NSF's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in its C configuration for the three candidate periodic quasars, DES J024703.24$-$010032.0, DES J024944.66$-$000036.8, and DES J025214.67$-$002813.7. Our targets were selected based on their optical variability using 20-yr long multi-color light curves from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The new VLA observations show that all three periodic quasars are radio-quiet with the radio loudness parameters measured to be $R\equiv f_{6\,{\rm cm}}/f_{{\rm 2500}}$ of $\lesssim$1.0$-$1.5 and the $k$-corrected luminosities $\nu L_\nu$[6 GHz] of $\lesssim$5$-$21 $\times$ 10$^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$. They are in stark contrast to previously known periodic quasars proposed as binary SMBH candidates such as the blazar OJ 287 and PG1302$-$102. Our results rule out optical emission contributed from precessing radio jets as the origin of the optical periodicity in the three DES$-$SDSS-selected candidate periodic quasars. Future continued optical monitoring and complementary multi-wavelength observations are still needed to further test the binary SMBH hypothesis as well as other competing scenarios to explain the optical periodicity.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Astronomy >> Astrophysical processes submitted time 2023-02-19
Yue Shen
Yu-Ching Chen
Hsiang-Chih Hwang
Xin Liu
Nadia Zakamska
Masamune Oguri
Jennifer I-Hsiu Li
Joseph Lazio
Peter Breiding
Abstract： Galaxy mergers occur frequently in the early universe and bring multiple supermassive black holes (SMBHs) into the nucleus, where they may eventually coalesce. Identifying post-merger-scale (i.e., <~a few kpc) dual SMBHs is a critical pathway to understanding their dynamical evolution and successive mergers. While serendipitously discovering kpc-scale dual SMBHs at z<1 is possible, such systems are elusive at z>2, but critical to constraining the progenitors of SMBH mergers. The redshift z~2 also marks the epoch of peak activity of luminous quasars, hence probing this spatial regime at high redshift is of particular significance in understanding the evolution of quasars. However, given stringent resolution requirements, there is currently no confirmed <10 kpc physical SMBH pair at z>2. Here we report two sub-arcsec double quasars at z>2 discovered from a targeted search with a novel astrometric technique, demonstrating a high success rate (~50%) in this systematic approach. These high-redshift double quasars could be the long-sought kpc-scale dual SMBHs, or sub-arcsec gravitationally-lensed quasar images. One of these double quasars (at z=2.95) was spatially resolved with optical spectroscopy, and slightly favors the scenario of a physical quasar pair with a projected separation of 3.5 kpc (0.46"). Follow-up observations of double quasars discovered by this targeted approach will be able to provide the first observational constraints on kpc-scale dual SMBHs at z>2.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
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