Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Index of Participants
- Preface
- I Evidence and Implications of Anisotropy in AGN
- II Luminosity Functions and Continuum Energy Distributions
- III The Broad Line Region: Variability and Structure
- IV X-rays and Accretion Disks
- V Beams, Jets and Blazars
- Magnetic Propulsion of Jets in AGN
- MHD Accretion-Ejection Model: X- and γ-rays and Formation of Relativistic Pair Beams
- Relativistic Electron Beams in AGN: Construction of Transonic Solutions
- Properties of Relativistic Jets
- A Massive Binary Black Hole in 1928+738?
- Gamma-Rays from Blazars: a Comparison of 3C 279, PKS 0537-441 and Mrk 421
- Microquasars in the Galactic Centre Region
- A Comparison of the Ultra-violet Continuum Variability Properties of Blazars and Seyfert 1s
- Simultaneous Optical and IR Monitoring of the Seyfert Nucleus NGC 7469
- Broad-Band Spectra and Polarization Properties of Variable Flat-Spectrum Radio Sources
- The Radio to Optical Variability of the BL Lac Object ON 231
- January 1992 Microvariability Campaign of OJ 287
- Blazar Microvariability: a Case Study of AO 0235+164
- Timescales of the Optical Variability of the BL Lacertae Galaxy PKS 2201+044
- Dynamics of Quasar Variability
- The Variability of a Large Sample of Quasars
- The Fate of Central Black Holes in Merging Galaxies
- Polarimetric Searching for Goldstone Bosons from AGNs
- VI Concluding Talk
A Massive Binary Black Hole in 1928+738?
from V - Beams, Jets and Blazars
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Index of Participants
- Preface
- I Evidence and Implications of Anisotropy in AGN
- II Luminosity Functions and Continuum Energy Distributions
- III The Broad Line Region: Variability and Structure
- IV X-rays and Accretion Disks
- V Beams, Jets and Blazars
- Magnetic Propulsion of Jets in AGN
- MHD Accretion-Ejection Model: X- and γ-rays and Formation of Relativistic Pair Beams
- Relativistic Electron Beams in AGN: Construction of Transonic Solutions
- Properties of Relativistic Jets
- A Massive Binary Black Hole in 1928+738?
- Gamma-Rays from Blazars: a Comparison of 3C 279, PKS 0537-441 and Mrk 421
- Microquasars in the Galactic Centre Region
- A Comparison of the Ultra-violet Continuum Variability Properties of Blazars and Seyfert 1s
- Simultaneous Optical and IR Monitoring of the Seyfert Nucleus NGC 7469
- Broad-Band Spectra and Polarization Properties of Variable Flat-Spectrum Radio Sources
- The Radio to Optical Variability of the BL Lac Object ON 231
- January 1992 Microvariability Campaign of OJ 287
- Blazar Microvariability: a Case Study of AO 0235+164
- Timescales of the Optical Variability of the BL Lacertae Galaxy PKS 2201+044
- Dynamics of Quasar Variability
- The Variability of a Large Sample of Quasars
- The Fate of Central Black Holes in Merging Galaxies
- Polarimetric Searching for Goldstone Bosons from AGNs
- VI Concluding Talk
Summary
Abstract
We apply the binary black hole model to explain the wiggles in the milliarcsec radio jet of the superluminal quasar 1928+738 (4C73.18) observed with VLBI at 1.3 cm wavelength by Hummel et al. (1992). The period and amplitude of the wiggles can be explained as due to the orbital motion of a binary black hole with mass of order 108 solar masses, mass ratio larger than 0.1 and orbital radius ∼ 1016 cm. The jet's inclination to the line of sight should be small, confirming the standard interpretation of superluminal motion and one-sidedness as due to relativistic motion in a direction close to the line of sight. The small orbital radius suggests that the binary has been losing a significant amount of orbital energy during the last 107 years, possibly by interaction with the matter which is flowing through the active galactic nucleus.
Introduction
Galaxy mergers must have been a common phenomenon especially during the collapse and virialisation of rich groups and clusters of galaxies. These mergers lead to the formation of massive binary black holes in galactic nuclei if black holes of 107−9M⊙ are formed in the nuclei of most bright galaxies at redshifts of about 2. A massive binary black hole (MBBH) may manifest itself by Lens-Thirring precession of a jet emitted along the spin axis of one of the holes (Begelman et al. 1980, hereafter BBR).
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- The Nature of Compact Objects in Active Galactic NucleiProceedings of the 33rd Herstmonceux Conference, held in Cambridge, July 6-22, 1992, pp. 377 - 380Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994