X-Ray Reflection Signatures of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries
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arXiv
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| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866908432186998784 |
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| author | Malewicz, Julie Ballantyne, David R. Bogdanović, Tamara Brenneman, Laura Dauser, Thomas |
| author_facet | Malewicz, Julie Ballantyne, David R. Bogdanović, Tamara Brenneman, Laura Dauser, Thomas |
| contents | We investigate the presence of supermassive black hole (SMBH) binary signatures and the feasibility of identifying them through X-ray reflection spectra. The X-ray emitting region is modeled as a set of two mini-disks bound to the individual SMBHs separated by 100 $GM/c^2$ and the spectra calculated as a function of the mass, mass ratio, and total accretion rate of the binary. The X-ray reflection features are strongly influenced by the accretion-inversion phenomenon expected in SMBH binaries, which results in a wide range of ionization conditions in the two mini-disks. These are imprinted in the resulting composite spectra and the double-peaked and time-variable relativistic Fe K$α$ line profiles. To test whether these features can be used as evidence for the presence of an SMBH binary, we fit mock 100 ks observations with a single AGN model. For a $10^9$ $M_\odot$ binary targeted by Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs), at $z=0.1$ the single AGN model clearly fails to fit the data, while at $z=1$ the fit is acceptable but unable to converge on the SMBH spin. For a $10^6$ $M_\odot$ binary, a progenitor of a Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) source, spectral fitting is only possible at $z=0.1$, with the outcomes similar to the PTA binary at $z=1$. We also find that PTA binaries can be expected to show a distinct X-ray spectral variability in multi-epoch observations, whereas for LISA precursors, orbital averaging results in the loss of spectral variability signatures. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_14018 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | X-Ray Reflection Signatures of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries Malewicz, Julie Ballantyne, David R. Bogdanović, Tamara Brenneman, Laura Dauser, Thomas High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena High Energy Physics - Theory We investigate the presence of supermassive black hole (SMBH) binary signatures and the feasibility of identifying them through X-ray reflection spectra. The X-ray emitting region is modeled as a set of two mini-disks bound to the individual SMBHs separated by 100 $GM/c^2$ and the spectra calculated as a function of the mass, mass ratio, and total accretion rate of the binary. The X-ray reflection features are strongly influenced by the accretion-inversion phenomenon expected in SMBH binaries, which results in a wide range of ionization conditions in the two mini-disks. These are imprinted in the resulting composite spectra and the double-peaked and time-variable relativistic Fe K$α$ line profiles. To test whether these features can be used as evidence for the presence of an SMBH binary, we fit mock 100 ks observations with a single AGN model. For a $10^9$ $M_\odot$ binary targeted by Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs), at $z=0.1$ the single AGN model clearly fails to fit the data, while at $z=1$ the fit is acceptable but unable to converge on the SMBH spin. For a $10^6$ $M_\odot$ binary, a progenitor of a Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) source, spectral fitting is only possible at $z=0.1$, with the outcomes similar to the PTA binary at $z=1$. We also find that PTA binaries can be expected to show a distinct X-ray spectral variability in multi-epoch observations, whereas for LISA precursors, orbital averaging results in the loss of spectral variability signatures. |
| title | X-Ray Reflection Signatures of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries |
| topic | High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena High Energy Physics - Theory |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.14018 |