Recoiling Black Holes: Electromagnetic Signatures, Candidates, and Astrophysical Implications

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) may not always reside right at the centers of their host galaxies. This is a prediction of numerical relativity simulations, which imply that the newly formed single SMBH, after binary coalescence in a galaxy merger, can receive kick velocities up to several 1000 km/...

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Main Author: S. Komossa
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2012-01-01
Series:Advances in Astronomy
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/364973
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author S. Komossa
author_facet S. Komossa
author_sort S. Komossa
collection DOAJ
description Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) may not always reside right at the centers of their host galaxies. This is a prediction of numerical relativity simulations, which imply that the newly formed single SMBH, after binary coalescence in a galaxy merger, can receive kick velocities up to several 1000 km/s due to anisotropic emission of gravitational waves. Long-lived oscillations of the SMBHs in galaxy cores, and in rare cases even SMBH ejections from their host galaxies, are the consequence. Observationally, accreting recoiling SMBHs would appear as quasars spatially and/or kinematically offset from their host galaxies. The presence of the “kicks” has a wide range of astrophysical implications which only now are beginning to be explored, including consequences for black hole and galaxy assembly at the epoch of structure formation, black hole feeding, and unified models of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Here, we review the observational signatures of recoiling SMBHs and the properties of the first candidates which have emerged, including follow-up studies of the candidate recoiling SMBH of SDSSJ092712.65+294344.0.
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spelling doaj-art-4fb8239916fc469b83a5b17746b4dcf82025-02-03T07:26:19ZengWileyAdvances in Astronomy1687-79691687-79772012-01-01201210.1155/2012/364973364973Recoiling Black Holes: Electromagnetic Signatures, Candidates, and Astrophysical ImplicationsS. Komossa0Fakultät für Physik, Technische Universität München, James Franck Straße 1/I, 85748 Garching, GermanySupermassive black holes (SMBHs) may not always reside right at the centers of their host galaxies. This is a prediction of numerical relativity simulations, which imply that the newly formed single SMBH, after binary coalescence in a galaxy merger, can receive kick velocities up to several 1000 km/s due to anisotropic emission of gravitational waves. Long-lived oscillations of the SMBHs in galaxy cores, and in rare cases even SMBH ejections from their host galaxies, are the consequence. Observationally, accreting recoiling SMBHs would appear as quasars spatially and/or kinematically offset from their host galaxies. The presence of the “kicks” has a wide range of astrophysical implications which only now are beginning to be explored, including consequences for black hole and galaxy assembly at the epoch of structure formation, black hole feeding, and unified models of active galactic nuclei (AGN). Here, we review the observational signatures of recoiling SMBHs and the properties of the first candidates which have emerged, including follow-up studies of the candidate recoiling SMBH of SDSSJ092712.65+294344.0.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/364973
spellingShingle S. Komossa
Recoiling Black Holes: Electromagnetic Signatures, Candidates, and Astrophysical Implications
Advances in Astronomy
title Recoiling Black Holes: Electromagnetic Signatures, Candidates, and Astrophysical Implications
title_full Recoiling Black Holes: Electromagnetic Signatures, Candidates, and Astrophysical Implications
title_fullStr Recoiling Black Holes: Electromagnetic Signatures, Candidates, and Astrophysical Implications
title_full_unstemmed Recoiling Black Holes: Electromagnetic Signatures, Candidates, and Astrophysical Implications
title_short Recoiling Black Holes: Electromagnetic Signatures, Candidates, and Astrophysical Implications
title_sort recoiling black holes electromagnetic signatures candidates and astrophysical implications
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/364973
work_keys_str_mv AT skomossa recoilingblackholeselectromagneticsignaturescandidatesandastrophysicalimplications