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Imaging compact supermassive binary black holes with Very Long Baseline Interferometry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2006

G. B. Taylor ,
C. Rodriguez ,
R. T. Zavala ,
A. B. Peck ,
L. K. Pollack  and
R. W. Romani
G. B. Taylor
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA email: gbtaylor@unm.edu
C. Rodriguez
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA email: gbtaylor@unm.edu
R. T. Zavala
Affiliation:
United States Naval Observatory, Flagstaff Station, AZ 86001, USA
A. B. Peck
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian CfA, SMA Project, 645 N. A'ohoku Pl, Hilo, HI 96721, USA
L. K. Pollack
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
R. W. Romani
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305USA
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Abstract

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We report on the discovery of a supermassive binary black-hole (SBBH) system in the radio galaxy 0402+379, with a projected separation between the two black holes of just 7.3 pc. This is the most compact SBBH pair yet imaged by more than two orders of magnitude. These results are based upon multi-frequency imaging using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) which reveal two compact, variable, flat-spectrum, active nuclei within the elliptical host galaxy of 0402+379. Multi-epoch observations from the VLBA also provide constraints on the total mass and dynamics of the system. The two nuclei appear stationary while the jets emanating from the weaker of the two nuclei appear to move out and terminate in bright hot spots. The discovery of this system has implications for the number of compact binary black holes that might be sources of gravitational radiation. The VLBI Imaging and Polarimetry Survey (VIPS) currently underway should discover several more SBBHs.

Keywords

Black hole physics – gravitational waves – galaxies: active – radio continuum: galaxies
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 2 , Symposium S238: Black Holes from Stars to Galaxies – Across the Range of Masses , August 2006 , pp. 269 - 272
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2007

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