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Candidate Electromagnetic Counterpart to the Binary Black Hole Merger Gravitational-Wave Event S190521g
- Source :
- Physical Review Letters. 124(25)
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- United States: NASA Center for Aerospace Information (CASI), 2020.
-
Abstract
- We report the first plausible optical electromagnetic counterpart to a (candidate) binary black hole merger. Detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility, the electromagnetic flare is consistent with expectations for a kicked binary black hole merger in the accretion disk of an active galactic nucleus [B. McKernan, K. E. S. Ford, I. Bartoset al., Astrophys. J. Lett.884, L50 (2019)] and is unlikely [<O(0.01%))] due to intrinsic variability of this source. The lack of color evolution implies that it is not a supernova and instead is strongly suggestive of a constant temperature shock. Other false-positive events, such as microlensing ora tidal disruption event, are ruled out or constrained to be <O(0.1%). If the flare is associated withS190521g, we find plausible values of total mass M(BBH) ∼ 100 Mꙩ, kick velocity v(k) ∼ 200 km/s at θ ∼ 60° in a disk with aspect ratio H/a ∼ 0.01(i.e., disk height H at radius a) and gas density ρ ∼ 10^(−10)g/cu.cm. The merger could have occurred at a disk migration trap (a ∼ 700 r(g); r(g) ≡ GM(SMBH)/sq.c, where M(SMBH) is the mass of the active galactic nucleus supermassive black hole). The combination of parameters implies a significant spin for at least one of the black holes in S190521g. The timing of our spectroscopy prevents useful constraints on broad-line asymmetry due to an off-center flare. We predict a repeat flare in this source due to a reencountering with the disk in ∼ 1.6 yr(M(SMBH)/10^(8) Mꙩ)(a/10^(3)r(g))^(3/2).
- Subjects :
- Astrophysics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 10797114 and 00319007
- Volume :
- 124
- Issue :
- 25
- Database :
- NASA Technical Reports
- Journal :
- Physical Review Letters
- Notes :
- 789737, , AST-1518308, , AST-1815034, , 16-ADAP16-0232, , 80NM0018D0004P00002, , AST-1831415, , Simons Foundation 533845, , NSF 1545949, , PHY2010970, , AST-1440341, , Heising–Simons Foundation 12540303
- Publication Type :
- Report
- Accession number :
- edsnas.20210014175
- Document Type :
- Report
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.251102