Galaxies (Jul 2023)
Observational Implications of OJ 287’s Predicted 2022 Disk Impact in the Black Hole Binary Model
- Mauri J. Valtonen,
- Lankeswar Dey,
- Achamveedu Gopakumar,
- Staszek Zola,
- Anne Lähteenmäki,
- Merja Tornikoski,
- Alok C. Gupta,
- Tapio Pursimo,
- Emil Knudstrup,
- Jose L. Gomez,
- Rene Hudec,
- Martin Jelínek,
- Jan Štrobl,
- Andrei V. Berdyugin,
- Stefano Ciprini,
- Daniel E. Reichart,
- Vladimir V. Kouprianov,
- Katsura Matsumoto,
- Marek Drozdz,
- Markus Mugrauer,
- Alberto Sadun,
- Michal Zejmo,
- Aimo Sillanpää,
- Harry J. Lehto,
- Kari Nilsson,
- Ryo Imazawa,
- Makoto Uemura
Affiliations
- Mauri J. Valtonen
- Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO (FINCA), University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
- Lankeswar Dey
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 400005, India
- Achamveedu Gopakumar
- Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 400005, India
- Staszek Zola
- Astronomical Observatory, Jagiellonian University, ul. Orla 171, 30-244 Krakow, Poland
- Anne Lähteenmäki
- Metsähovi Radio Observatory, Aalto University, 02540 Kylmälä, Finland
- Merja Tornikoski
- Metsähovi Radio Observatory, Aalto University, 02540 Kylmälä, Finland
- Alok C. Gupta
- Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Manora Park, Nainital 263001, India
- Tapio Pursimo
- Nordic Optical Telescope, Apartado 474, E-38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma, Spain
- Emil Knudstrup
- Nordic Optical Telescope, Apartado 474, E-38700 Santa Cruz de La Palma, Spain
- Jose L. Gomez
- The Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia—CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomia s/n, 18008 Granada, Spain
- Rene Hudec
- Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University, 166 36 Prague, Czech Republic
- Martin Jelínek
- Astronomical Institute (ASU CAS), 251 65 Ondřejov, Czech Republic
- Jan Štrobl
- Astronomical Institute (ASU CAS), 251 65 Ondřejov, Czech Republic
- Andrei V. Berdyugin
- Tuorla Observatory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
- Stefano Ciprini
- National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
- Daniel E. Reichart
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- Vladimir V. Kouprianov
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- Katsura Matsumoto
- Astronomical Institute, Osaka Kyoiku University, 4-698 Asahigaoka, Kashiwara, Osaka 582-8582, Japan
- Marek Drozdz
- Mt. Suhora Observatory, Pedagogical University, ul. Podchorazych 2, 30-084 Krakow, Poland
- Markus Mugrauer
- Astrophysical Institute and University Observatory, Schillergässchen 2, D-07745 Jena, Germany
- Alberto Sadun
- Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Denver, CO 80217, USA
- Michal Zejmo
- Kepler Institute of Astronomy, University of Zielona Gora, Lubuska 2, 65-265 Zielona Gora, Poland
- Aimo Sillanpää
- Tuorla Observatory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
- Harry J. Lehto
- Tuorla Observatory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
- Kari Nilsson
- Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO (FINCA), University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland
- Ryo Imazawa
- Department of Physics, Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan
- Makoto Uemura
- Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies11040082
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 11,
no. 4
p. 82
Abstract
We present a summary of the results of the OJ 287 observational campaign, which was carried out during the 2021/2022 observational season. This season is special in the binary model because the major axis of the precessing binary happens to lie almost exactly in the plane of the accretion disc of the primary. This leads to pairs of almost identical impacts between the secondary black hole and the accretion disk in 2005 and 2022. In 2005, a special flare called “blue flash” was observed 35 days after the disk impact, which should have also been verifiable in 2022. We did observe a similar flash and were able to obtain more details of its properties. We describe this in the framework of expanding cloud models. In addition, we were able to identify the flare arising exactly at the time of the disc crossing from its photo-polarimetric and gamma-ray properties. This is an important identification, as it directly confirms the orbit model. Moreover, we saw a huge flare that lasted only one day. We may understand this as the lighting up of the jet of the secondary black hole when its Roche lobe is suddenly flooded by the gas from the primary disk. Therefore, this may be the first time we directly observed the secondary black hole in the OJ 287 binary system.
Keywords
- BL Lacertae objects: individual: OJ 287
- quasars: supermassive black holes
- accretion
- accretion discs
- gravitational waves
- galaxies: jets
