The DOI matches its Crossref record; 34 of the 34 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A possible close supermassive black-hole binary in a quasar with optical periodicity
Open accessAbstract
Quasars have long been known to be variable sources at all wavelengths. Their optical variability is stochastic and can be due to a variety of physical mechanisms; it is also well-described statistically in terms of a damped random walk model. The recent availability of large collections of astronomical time series of flux measurements (light curves) offers new data sets for a systematic exploration of quasar variability. Here we report the detection of a strong, smooth periodic signal in the optical variability of the quasar PG 1302−102 with a mean observed period of 1,884 ± 88 days. It was identified in a search for periodic variability in a data set of light curves for 247,000 known, spectroscopically confirmed quasars with a temporal baseline of about 9 years. Although the interpretation of this phenomenon is still uncertain, the most plausible mechanisms involve a binary system of two supermassive black holes with a subparsec separation. Such systems are an expected consequence of galaxy mergers and can provide important constraints on models of galaxy formation and evolution.
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Cites
The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS)
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NINE-YEAR WILKINSON MICROWAVE ANISOTROPY PROBE ( WMAP ) OBSERVATIONS: COSMOLOGICAL PARAMETER RESULTS
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The Keck Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer
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FIRST RESULTS FROM THE CATALINA REAL-TIME TRANSIENT SURVEY
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Self-citationA Method of Correcting Near‐Infrared Spectra for Telluric Absorption1
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ARE THE VARIATIONS IN QUASAR OPTICAL FLUX DRIVEN BY THERMAL FLUCTUATIONS?
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Self-citationMODELING THE TIME VARIABILITY OF SDSS STRIPE 82 QUASARS AS A DAMPED RANDOM WALK
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Cited by
Fundamental physics with the Square Kilometre Array
Weltman, A., Bull, P., Camera, S., Kelley, K., Padmanabhan, H., Pritchard, J., Raccanelli, A., Riemer-Sørensen, S., Shao, L., Andrianomena, S., et al. (2020) · Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia · doi:10.1017/pasa.2019.42 · Cited by 384
Metadata
- Authors
- Graham, M. J., Djorgovski, S. G., Stern, D., Glikman, E., Drake, A. J., Mahabal, A. A., Donalek, C., Larson, S., & Christensen, E.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2015-01-07
- Volume
- 518
- Issue
- 7537
- Pages
- 74-76
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2011739082
- Cited by
- 364
- References
- 34
- FWCI
- 23.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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