Kavli Affiliate: Debora Sijacki
| First 5 Authors: Martin G. H. Krause, Martin G. H. Krause, , ,
| Summary:
We review the state of the evidence for the existence and observational
appearance of supermassive black hole binaries. Such objects are expected from
standard hierarchical galaxy evolution to form after two galaxies, each
containing a supermassive black hole, have merged, in the centre of the merger
remnant. A complex interaction is predicted to take place with stars and gas in
the host galaxy, leading to observable signatures in weakly as well as actively
accreting phases. Direct observational evidence is available and shows examples
of dual active galactic nuclei from kpc scales down to parsec scales.
Signatures of possibly closer supermassive black hole binaries may be seen in
jetted black holes. The interaction with stars and gas in a galaxy
significantly affects the hardening of the binary and hence contributes to
uncertainties of the expected gravitational wave signal. The Laser
Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) should in the future detect actual mergers.
Before the launch of LISA, pulsar timing arrays may have the best chance to
detect a gravitational wave signal from supermassive black hole binaries. The
first signs of the combined background of inspiralling objects might have been
seen already.
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