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 L16

Subject Categories

Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology

DOI

10.3847/2041-8213/ad2767

More information

Latest update

3/8/2024 9