OJ 287: Potential Rosetta stone for the nascent multi-messenger nano-Hz GW astronomy

Event type
Event date
Venue
online (only)
Speaker
Lankeswar Dey

Abstract: The bright blazar OJ 287 is the best-known candidate for hosting a supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) in the present observable universe. The binary black hole (BBH) central engine model, proposed by Lehto and Valtonen in 1996, was influenced by the two distinct periodicities inferred from the optical light curve of this blazar. Recent observational campaigns and theoretical investigations strongly indicate the presence of a spinning SMBHB that spirals in due to the emission of nano-Hertz gravitational waves (GWs) in OJ 287. I will briefly describe these efforts while focusing on our August 2019 Spitzer observations of OJ 287 and its implications. Additionally, I will list our on-going efforts, relevant to (i) the Event Horizon Telescope consortium and (ii) the International Pulsar Timing Array consortium which aims to detect GWs from such massive BBH systems. These efforts should be helpful to achieve multi-messenger nano-Hz GW astronomy in the near future.

 

References: Laine et al. 2020 (arXiv:2004.13392), Dey et al. 2018 (arXiv:1808.09309)

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