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Candidate Electromagnetic Counterpart to the Binary Black Hole Merger Gravitational-Wave Event S190521g*

M. J. Graham1,†, K. E. S. Ford2,3,4, B. McKernan2,3,4, N. P. Ross5, D. Stern6, K. Burdge1, M. Coughlin7,8, S. G. Djorgovski1, A. J. Drake1 et al.

D. Duev1, M. Kasliwal1, A. A. Mahabal1, S. van Velzen9,10, J. Belecki11, E. C. Bellm12, R. Burruss11, S. B. Cenko13,14, V. Cunningham9, G. Helou15, S. R. Kulkarni1, F. J. Masci15, T. Prince1, D. Reiley11, H. Rodriguez11, B. Rusholme15, R. M. Smith11, and M. T. Soumagnac16,17

  • 1Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
  • 2Department of Science, CUNY-BMCC, 199 Chambers Street, New York, New York 10007, USA
  • 3Department of Astrophysics, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West, New York, New York 10028, USA
  • 4Physics Program, The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York, New York 10016, USA
  • 5Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3 HJ, United Kingdom
  • 6Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91109, USA
  • 7Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
  • 8School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
  • 9Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
  • 10Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, New York University, New York, New York 10003, USA
  • 11Caltech Optical Observatories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
  • 12DIRAC Institute, Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, 3910 15th Avenue NE, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
  • 13Astrophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, MC 661, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771, USA
  • 14Joint Space-Science Institute, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
  • 15IPAC, California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
  • 16Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
  • 17Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel

  • †Corresponding author. mjg@caltech.edu
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 251102 – Published 25 June, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.251102

Abstract

We report the first plausible optical electromagnetic counterpart to a (candidate) binary black hole merger. Detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility, the electromagnetic flare is consistent with expectations for a kicked binary black hole merger in the accretion disk of an active galactic nucleus [B. McKernan, K. E. S. Ford, I. Bartos et al., Astrophys. J. Lett. 884, L50 (2019)] and is unlikely [<O(0.01%))] due to intrinsic variability of this source. The lack of color evolution implies that it is not a supernova and instead is strongly suggestive of a constant temperature shock. Other false-positive events, such as microlensing or a tidal disruption event, are ruled out or constrained to be <O(0.1%). If the flare is associated with S190521g, we find plausible values of total mass MBBH∼100  M⊙, kick velocity vk∼200  km s−1 at θ∼60° in a disk with aspect ratio H/a∼0.01 (i.e., disk height H at radius a) and gas density ρ∼10−10  g cm−3. The merger could have occurred at a disk migration trap (a∼700rg; rg≡GMSMBH/c2, where MSMBH is the mass of the active galactic nucleus supermassive black hole). The combination of parameters implies a significant spin for at least one of the black holes in S190521g. The timing of our spectroscopy prevents useful constraints on broad-line asymmetry due to an off-center flare. We predict a repeat flare in this source due to a reencountering with the disk in ∼1.6  yr(MSMBH/108  M⊙)(a/103rg)3/2.

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  • *At the time of writing, LIGO has not yet officially confirmed this event. We still refer to it in this paper using the S-* naming syntax to acknowledge this.

Focus

Possible Flare from Black Hole Merger

Published 25 June, 2020

Astronomers have detected a brightening of a distant quasar that coincided with a potential gravitational-wave signature of a pair of merging black holes.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 251102– Published 25 June, 2020
  • Received 19 March 2020
  • Accepted 5 June 2020
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