X-ray Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Active Galactic Nuclei and Their Implications for the Changing Look Phenomenon
Fuente:
arXiv
Salvato in:
| Autori principali: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Natura: | Preprint |
| Pubblicazione: |
2026
|
| Soggetti: | |
| Accesso online: | |
| Tags: |
Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
|
| _version_ | 1866913011274350592 |
|---|---|
| author | Sun, Mouyuan Zhou, Shuying Liu, Jihong Jiang, Ning Cai, Zhen-Yi Feng, Hai-Cheng Guo, Hengxiao Zhang, Zhi-Xiang Han, Qinbo Li, Juan Jiang, Linyue Xu, Yu-Jing Wang, Junfeng Wang, Jun-Xian Xue, Yongquan |
| author_facet | Sun, Mouyuan Zhou, Shuying Liu, Jihong Jiang, Ning Cai, Zhen-Yi Feng, Hai-Cheng Guo, Hengxiao Zhang, Zhi-Xiang Han, Qinbo Li, Juan Jiang, Linyue Xu, Yu-Jing Wang, Junfeng Wang, Jun-Xian Xue, Yongquan |
| contents | X-ray timing of active galactic nuclei (AGN) provides a unique probe of gas accretion onto supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs), which trace gas dynamics in the strongly curved spacetime around SMBHs, are rare in AGN. These signals often are analogs of high-frequency QPOs occasionally seen in some black-hole X-ray binaries, and their scarcity in AGN can partly be attributed to the low frequencies expected for typical SMBH masses. Intriguingly, robust X-ray QPO detections in SMBH systems have so far been reported only in narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) and tidal disruption events (TDEs). Here we report the discovery of a QPO candidate during the 2018 outburst of the changing-look AGN (CL-AGN) NGC 1566. Numerical simulations indicate that the disk epicyclic oscillations responsible for high-frequency QPOs are damped by magnetohydrodynamic turbulence unless the accretion flow is misaligned and/or eccentric. In TDEs, the stellar debris stream is naturally misaligned with the SMBH spin, while NLS1s may host misaligned disks due to their youth. Motivated by the QPO candidate in NGC 1566, we propose that CL-AGN accretion is also misaligned -- potentially fueled by captured, free-falling broad-line region clouds. This model naturally explains why CL-AGN transition timescales are much shorter than the standard disk viscous timescale. This picture can be tested by searching for QPOs or quasi-periodic eruptions in other CL-AGN. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_23724 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | X-ray Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Active Galactic Nuclei and Their Implications for the Changing Look Phenomenon Sun, Mouyuan Zhou, Shuying Liu, Jihong Jiang, Ning Cai, Zhen-Yi Feng, Hai-Cheng Guo, Hengxiao Zhang, Zhi-Xiang Han, Qinbo Li, Juan Jiang, Linyue Xu, Yu-Jing Wang, Junfeng Wang, Jun-Xian Xue, Yongquan High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena X-ray timing of active galactic nuclei (AGN) provides a unique probe of gas accretion onto supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs), which trace gas dynamics in the strongly curved spacetime around SMBHs, are rare in AGN. These signals often are analogs of high-frequency QPOs occasionally seen in some black-hole X-ray binaries, and their scarcity in AGN can partly be attributed to the low frequencies expected for typical SMBH masses. Intriguingly, robust X-ray QPO detections in SMBH systems have so far been reported only in narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) and tidal disruption events (TDEs). Here we report the discovery of a QPO candidate during the 2018 outburst of the changing-look AGN (CL-AGN) NGC 1566. Numerical simulations indicate that the disk epicyclic oscillations responsible for high-frequency QPOs are damped by magnetohydrodynamic turbulence unless the accretion flow is misaligned and/or eccentric. In TDEs, the stellar debris stream is naturally misaligned with the SMBH spin, while NLS1s may host misaligned disks due to their youth. Motivated by the QPO candidate in NGC 1566, we propose that CL-AGN accretion is also misaligned -- potentially fueled by captured, free-falling broad-line region clouds. This model naturally explains why CL-AGN transition timescales are much shorter than the standard disk viscous timescale. This picture can be tested by searching for QPOs or quasi-periodic eruptions in other CL-AGN. |
| title | X-ray Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Active Galactic Nuclei and Their Implications for the Changing Look Phenomenon |
| topic | High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.23724 |