TAPIR Seminar

Quasars with periodic variability as sub-parsec Supermassive Black Hole Binary candidates

Charisi Maria, Postdoctoral Scholar in Astronomy, TAPIR, Caltech,

Speaker's Bio:
I have joined the Theoretical AstroPhysics Including Relativity and Cosmology (TAPIR) group at Caltech as a postdoctoral scholar of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav). I got my PhD in astronomy from Columbia University, where I worked with Zoltan Haiman, Imre Bartos and Szabi Marka. I am interested in high energy, time-domain and gravitational-wave astronomy.

Supermassive Black Hole Binaries (SMBHBs) are expected to form frequently in galactic nuclei as a result of galaxy mergers. However, the observational evidence for such systems, especially for binaries at sub-parsec separations, remains sparse. Hydrodynamical simulations predict that SMBHBs produce quasar-like luminosities, with variability periodically modulated at the orbital period of the binary. I will present a systematic search for quasars with periodic variability in the Palomar Transient Factory and the detection of a population of candidate SMBHBs. Moreover, I will also discuss follow-up work to uncover additional evidence for the binary nature of the identified candidates, such as relativistic Doppler boost. [NOTE UNUSUAL DAY]

Event Sponsors:

Theoretical AstroPhysics Including Relativity and Cosmology (TAPIR) - More events from this Sponsor

For more information, please contact JoAnn Boyd by phone at 4280 or by email at [email protected].