A recoiling supermassive black hole in a powerful quasar

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dc.contributor.authorChiaberge, Marco
dc.contributor.authorMorishita, Takahiro
dc.contributor.authorBoschini, Matteo
dc.contributor.authorBianchi, Stefano
dc.contributor.authorCapetti, Alessandro
dc.contributor.authorCastignani, Gianluca
dc.contributor.authorGerosa, Davide
dc.contributor.authorKonishi, Masahiro
dc.contributor.authorKoyama, Shuhei
dc.contributor.authorKushibiki, Kosuke
dc.contributor.authorLambrides, Erini
dc.contributor.authorMeyer, Eileen T.
dc.contributor.authorMotohara, Kentaro
dc.contributor.authorStiavelli, Massimo
dc.contributor.authorTakahashi, Hidenori
dc.contributor.authorTremblay, Grant R.
dc.contributor.authorNorman, Colin
dc.date.accessioned2025-03-11T14:42:53Z
dc.date.available2025-03-11T14:42:53Z
dc.date.issued2025-01-30
dc.description.abstractSupermassive black holes (SMBH) are thought to grow through accretion of matter and mergers. Models of SMBH mergers have long suffered the final parsec problem, where SMBH binaries may stall before energy loss from gravitational waves (GW) becomes significant, leaving the pair unmerged. Direct evidence of coalesced SMBH remains elusive. Theory predicts that GW recoiling black holes can occur following a black hole merger. Here we present decisive spectroscopic evidence that the gas bound to the SMBH in the spatially offset quasar 3C 186 is blue-shifted relative to the host galaxy. This is exclusively explained by the GW recoil super-kick scenario. This confirmation of the ejection process implies that the final parsec problem is resolved in nature, providing evidence that even the most massive black holes can merge.
dc.description.sponsorshipM.B. and D.G. are supported by ERC Starting Grant No. 945155-GWmining, Cariplo Foundation Grant No. 2021-0555, MUR PRIN Grant No. 2022-Z9X4XS, MUR Grant "Progetto Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2023-2027" (BiCoQ), and the ICSC National Research Centre funded by NextGenerationEU. D.G. is supported by MSCA Fellowships No. 101064542-StochRewind and No. 101149270-ProtoBH. G.C. acknowledges the support from the Next Generation EU funds within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), Mission 4 - Education and Research, Component 2 - From Research to Business (M4C2), Investment Line 3.1 - Strengthening and creation of Research Infrastructures, Project IR0000012 – “CTA+ -Cherenkov Telescope Array Plus”.
dc.description.urihttps://arxiv.org/abs/2501.18730v2
dc.format.extent32 pages
dc.genrejournal articles
dc.genrepreprints
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/m2pinf-6are
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2501.18730
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/37783
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Faculty Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Physics Department
dc.rightsThis work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
dc.rightsPublic Domain
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/
dc.subjectAstrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
dc.subjectGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
dc.titleA recoiling supermassive black hole in a powerful quasar
dc.title.alternativeA confirmed recoiling supermassive black hole in a powerful quasar
dc.typeText
dcterms.creatorhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7676-9962

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