The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2025)
PKS J0805-0111: A Second Owens Valley Radio Observatory Blazar Showing Highly Significant Sinusoidal Radio Variability—The Tip of the Iceberg
- P. V. de la Parra,
- S. Kiehlmann,
- P. Mróz,
- A. C. S. Readhead,
- A. Synani,
- M. C. Begelman,
- R. D. Blandford,
- Y. Ding,
- F. Harrison,
- I. Liodakis,
- W. Max-Moerbeck,
- V. Pavlidou,
- R. Reeves,
- M. Vallisneri,
- M. F. Aller,
- M. J. Graham,
- T. Hovatta,
- C. R. Lawrence,
- T. J. W. Lazio,
- A. A. Mahabal,
- B. Molina,
- S. O’Neill,
- T. J. Pearson,
- V. Ravi,
- K. Tassis,
- J. A. Zensus
Affiliations
- P. V. de la Parra
- ORCiD
- CePIA, Astronomy Department, Universidad de Concepción , Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile
- S. Kiehlmann
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Institute of Theoretical and Computational Physics, University of Crete , 71003 Heraklion, Greece
- P. Mróz
- ORCiD
- Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw , Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa, Poland
- A. C. S. Readhead
- ORCiD
- Owens Valley Radio Observatory , California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Institute of Astrophysics , Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, GR-70013 Heraklion, Greece
- A. Synani
- Department of Physics and Institute of Theoretical and Computational Physics, University of Crete , 71003 Heraklion, Greece; Institute of Astrophysics , Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, GR-70013 Heraklion, Greece
- M. C. Begelman
- ORCiD
- JILA , University of Colorado and National Institute of Standards and Technology, 440 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0440, USA; Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado , 391 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0391, USA
- R. D. Blandford
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology , Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Y. Ding
- ORCiD
- Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- F. Harrison
- ORCiD
- Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- I. Liodakis
- ORCiD
- Institute of Astrophysics , Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, GR-70013 Heraklion, Greece; NASA Marshall Space Flight Center , Huntsville, AL 35812, USA; Finnish Center for Astronomy with ESO, University of Turku , Vesilinnantie 5, FI-20014, Finland
- W. Max-Moerbeck
- ORCiD
- Departamento de Astronomía, Universidad de Chile , Camino El Observatorio 1515, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
- V. Pavlidou
- Department of Physics and Institute of Theoretical and Computational Physics, University of Crete , 71003 Heraklion, Greece; Institute of Astrophysics , Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, GR-70013 Heraklion, Greece
- R. Reeves
- ORCiD
- CePIA, Astronomy Department, Universidad de Concepción , Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile
- M. Vallisneri
- ORCiD
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory , California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
- M. F. Aller
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan , 323 West Hall, 1085 S. University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- M. J. Graham
- ORCiD
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- T. Hovatta
- ORCiD
- Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO (FINCA), University of Turku , FI-20014 Turku, Finland; Aalto University Metsähovi Radio Observatory , Metsähovintie 114, 02540 Kylmälä, Finland
- C. R. Lawrence
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory , California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
- T. J. W. Lazio
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory , California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
- A. A. Mahabal
- ORCiD
- Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Center for Data Driven Discovery, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- B. Molina
- CePIA, Astronomy Department, Universidad de Concepción , Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile
- S. O’Neill
- Department of Physics, Princeton University , Jadwin Hall, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
- T. J. Pearson
- ORCiD
- Owens Valley Radio Observatory , California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- V. Ravi
- ORCiD
- Owens Valley Radio Observatory , California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- K. Tassis
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Institute of Theoretical and Computational Physics, University of Crete , 71003 Heraklion, Greece; Institute of Astrophysics , Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, GR-70013 Heraklion, Greece
- J. A. Zensus
- ORCiD
- Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie , Auf dem Hügel 69, D-53121 Bonn, Germany
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/addc60
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 987,
no. 2
p. 191
Abstract
Owens Valley Radio Observatory observations of the supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) candidate PKS 2131−021 revealed, for the first time, six likely characteristics of the phenomenology exhibited by SMBHBs in blazars, of which the most unexpected and critical is sinusoidal flux density variations. We have now identified a second blazar, PKS J0805−0111, showing similar variations, with a period of 1.422 ± 0.005 yr in the rest frame of the z = 1.388 object. PKS J0805−0111 displays five of the six characteristics observed in PKS 2131−021. To estimate the significance of the sinusoidal variations, we generate 10 ^6 simulated light curves that reproduce the radio variability characteristics of PKS J0805−0111 and show that the global probability that the periodicity we detect is due to the red-noise tail of the power spectral density is p = 6.7 × 10 ^−5 (3.82 σ ). This shows that PKS 2131−021 is not a unique case. The discovery of these two objects in a sample of 1158 blazars allows us to reject, at a p -value ∼0.003, the null hypothesis that the sinusoidal variations in these two blazars are all due to a red-noise process. We estimate that the number of SMBHB candidates among blazars is ∼1 in 100.
Keywords
