Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21534105c&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #341.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.447
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Since nearly all galaxies host a central supermassive black hole (SMBH), mergers between two galaxies can bring dual SMBHs to the resultant merger-remnant galaxy. However, only a handful of dual SMBHs have been identified observationally, and here we present new detections of 33 dual SMBHs. We searched the DEEP2 Galaxy Redshift Survey for galaxy spectra with AGN emission lines that are offset in velocity relative to the mean velocity of the host galaxy's stars, suggesting bulk motion of the AGN within the host galaxies. Within the set of DEEP2 red galaxies at 0.3 < z < 0.8, we find 32 AGN with statistically significant (greater than 3 sigma) velocity offsets, ranging from 50 km/s to 300 km/s. After exploring physical effects such as AGN outflows that could cause such velocity offsets, we find that these offsets are most likely the result of dual SMBHs. We also report on a z=0.36 COSMOS galaxy whose optical imaging shows a tidal tail and two bright central nuclei; with follow-up slit spectroscopy we confirm that the central nuclei correspond to dual SMBHs. Our sample of dual SMBHs provides a direct observational probe of galaxy mergers and the galaxy merger rate, as well as SMBH mergers that are expected to produce gravity waves observable by next-generation projects such as LISA.
This work is supported by NSF grant AST-0507428.
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