A Dual Active Black Hole Candidate with Mass Ratio ~7:1 in a Disk Galaxy
Dual active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with comparable masses are commonly witnessed among the major merged galaxies with interaction remnants. Considering almost every massive galaxy is associated with multiple dwarf satellites around it, minor mergers involving galaxies with disproportional stellar ma...
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2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adaa7b |
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| author | Xiao Cao Yan-Mei Chen Yong Shi Junfeng Wang Zhijie Zhou Min Bao Qiusheng Gu Alexei Moiseev Luis C. Ho Lan Wang Guangquan Zeng |
| author_facet | Xiao Cao Yan-Mei Chen Yong Shi Junfeng Wang Zhijie Zhou Min Bao Qiusheng Gu Alexei Moiseev Luis C. Ho Lan Wang Guangquan Zeng |
| author_sort | Xiao Cao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Dual active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with comparable masses are commonly witnessed among the major merged galaxies with interaction remnants. Considering almost every massive galaxy is associated with multiple dwarf satellites around it, minor mergers involving galaxies with disproportional stellar masses should be much more common than major mergers, which would naturally lead to black hole (BH) pairs with significantly different masses. However, dual AGNs generated by minor mergers involving one or two dwarf galaxies are exceptionally rare and understudied. Moreover, good estimates of the masses of both BHs are not yet available to test this idea. Here we report the evidence of a dual AGN candidate with mass ratio ~7:1 located in an undisturbed disk galaxy. We identify the central BH with mass of 9.4 × 10 ^6 M _⊙ from its radio emission as well as AGN-driven galactic-scale biconical outflows. The off-centered BH generates obvious broad and narrow emission-line regions, which gives us a robust estimation of a 1.3 × 10 ^6 M _⊙ BH mass. We explore alternative scenarios for explaining the observational features of this system, including the complex gas kinematics triggered by central AGN activity and dust attenuation of the broad-line region of the central BH, finding that they failed to fully account for the kinematics of both the redshifted off-centered broad and narrow emission-line components. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cf549d0561b2438abedeee3cdb48d7c9 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2041-8205 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-cf549d0561b2438abedeee3cdb48d7c92025-01-30T18:03:26ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal Letters2041-82052025-01-019792L4810.3847/2041-8213/adaa7bA Dual Active Black Hole Candidate with Mass Ratio ~7:1 in a Disk GalaxyXiao Cao0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8411-3314Yan-Mei Chen1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3226-031XYong Shi2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8614-6275Junfeng Wang3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4874-0369Zhijie Zhou4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1709-6005Min Bao5https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9342-9125Qiusheng Gu6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3890-3729Alexei Moiseev7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0507-9307Luis C. Ho8https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6947-5846Lan Wang9https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9788-2577Guangquan Zeng10https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4708-3344School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of China ; chenym@nju.edu.cn; Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University) , Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of ChinaSchool of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of China ; chenym@nju.edu.cn; Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University) , Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of ChinaSchool of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of China ; chenym@nju.edu.cn; Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University) , Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of ChinaDepartment of Astronomy, Xiamen University , Xiamen 361005, People's Republic of ChinaSchool of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of China ; chenym@nju.edu.cn; Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University) , Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of ChinaSchool of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of China ; chenym@nju.edu.cn; Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University) , Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of ChinaSchool of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University , Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of China ; chenym@nju.edu.cn; Key Laboratory of Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics (Nanjing University) , Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of ChinaSpecial Astrophysical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences , Nizhny Arkhyz, Russia; Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Lomonosov Moscow State University , Moscow, RussiaKavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China; Department of Astronomy, School of Physics, Peking University , Beijing 100871, People's Republic of ChinaNational Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China; School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, People's Republic of ChinaNational Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China; School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100049, People's Republic of ChinaDual active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with comparable masses are commonly witnessed among the major merged galaxies with interaction remnants. Considering almost every massive galaxy is associated with multiple dwarf satellites around it, minor mergers involving galaxies with disproportional stellar masses should be much more common than major mergers, which would naturally lead to black hole (BH) pairs with significantly different masses. However, dual AGNs generated by minor mergers involving one or two dwarf galaxies are exceptionally rare and understudied. Moreover, good estimates of the masses of both BHs are not yet available to test this idea. Here we report the evidence of a dual AGN candidate with mass ratio ~7:1 located in an undisturbed disk galaxy. We identify the central BH with mass of 9.4 × 10 ^6 M _⊙ from its radio emission as well as AGN-driven galactic-scale biconical outflows. The off-centered BH generates obvious broad and narrow emission-line regions, which gives us a robust estimation of a 1.3 × 10 ^6 M _⊙ BH mass. We explore alternative scenarios for explaining the observational features of this system, including the complex gas kinematics triggered by central AGN activity and dust attenuation of the broad-line region of the central BH, finding that they failed to fully account for the kinematics of both the redshifted off-centered broad and narrow emission-line components.https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adaa7bGalaxy kinematicsGalactic windsGalaxy evolution |
| spellingShingle | Xiao Cao Yan-Mei Chen Yong Shi Junfeng Wang Zhijie Zhou Min Bao Qiusheng Gu Alexei Moiseev Luis C. Ho Lan Wang Guangquan Zeng A Dual Active Black Hole Candidate with Mass Ratio ~7:1 in a Disk Galaxy The Astrophysical Journal Letters Galaxy kinematics Galactic winds Galaxy evolution |
| title | A Dual Active Black Hole Candidate with Mass Ratio ~7:1 in a Disk Galaxy |
| title_full | A Dual Active Black Hole Candidate with Mass Ratio ~7:1 in a Disk Galaxy |
| title_fullStr | A Dual Active Black Hole Candidate with Mass Ratio ~7:1 in a Disk Galaxy |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Dual Active Black Hole Candidate with Mass Ratio ~7:1 in a Disk Galaxy |
| title_short | A Dual Active Black Hole Candidate with Mass Ratio ~7:1 in a Disk Galaxy |
| title_sort | dual active black hole candidate with mass ratio 7 1 in a disk galaxy |
| topic | Galaxy kinematics Galactic winds Galaxy evolution |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/adaa7b |
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