Follow-up on the Supermassive Black Hole Binary Candidate J1048+7143: Successful Prediction of the Next Gamma-Ray Flare and Refined Binary Parameters in the Framework of the Jet Precession Model
Journal article, 2024
Analyzing single-dish and very long baseline interferometry radio, as well as Fermi Large Area Telescope γ-ray observations, we explained the three major flares in the γ-ray light curve of FSRQ J1048+7143 with the spin-orbit precession of the dominant mass black hole in a supermassive black hole binary system. Here, we report on the detection of a fourth γ-ray flare from J1048+7143, appearing in the time interval that was predicted in our previous work. Including this new flare, we constrained the mass ratio into a narrow range of 0.062 < q < 0.088, and consequently we were able to further constrain the parameters of the hypothetical supermassive binary black hole at the heart of J1048+7143. We predict the occurrence of the fifth major γ-ray flare that would appear only if the jet will still lay close to our line of sight. The fourth major γ-ray flare also shows the two-subflare structure, further strengthening our scenario in which the occurrence of the subflares is the signature of the precession of a spine-sheath jet structure that quasiperiodically interacts with a proton target, e.g., clouds in the broad-line region.
Author
Emma Kun
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Research Centre For Astronomy and Earth Sciences
Ilja Jaroschewski
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Julia Tjus
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Silke Britzen
Max Planck Society
S. Frey
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
Research Centre For Astronomy and Earth Sciences
Krisztina E. Gabányi
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Research Centre For Astronomy and Earth Sciences
Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)
Lang Cui
Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory
Xin Wang
Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory
Yuling Shen
Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory
Astrophysical Journal Letters
2041-8205 (ISSN) 2041-8213 (eISSN)
Vol. 963 1 L16Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
DOI
10.3847/2041-8213/ad2767