Discovery and Characterization of Galactic-scale Dual Supermassive Black Holes Across Cosmic Time

Yue Shen; J. Andrew Casey-Clyde; Yu-Ching Chen; Arran Gross; Melanie Habouzit; Hsiang-Chih Hwang; Yuzo Ishikawa; Jun-Yao Li; Xin Liu; Chiara M. F. Mingarelli; D. Porquet; Aaron Stemo; Ming-Yang Zhuang

arXiv · 2306.15527

Discovery and Characterization of Galactic-scale Dual Supermassive Black Holes Across Cosmic Time

Yue Shen·J. Andrew Casey-Clyde·Yu-Ching Chen·Arran Gross·Melanie Habouzit·Hsiang-Chih Hwang·Yuzo Ishikawa·Jun-Yao Li·Xin Liu·Chiara M. F. Mingarelli·D. Porquet·Aaron Stemo·Ming-Yang Zhuang

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Abstract

The hierarchical structure formation paradigm predicts the formation of pairs of supermassive black holes in merging galaxies. When both (or one) members of the SMBH pair are unobscured AGNs, the system can be identified as a dual (or offset) AGN. Quantifying the abundance of these AGN pairs as functions of separation, redshift and host properties is crucial to understanding SMBH formation and AGN fueling in the broad context of galaxy formation. The High Latitude Wide Area Survey with Roman, with its unprecedented combination of sensitivity, spatial resolution, area and NIR wavelength coverage, will revolutionize the study of galactic-scale environments of SMBH pairs. This white paper summarizes the science opportunities and technical requirements on the discovery and characterization of SMBH pairs down to galactic scales (i.e., less than tens of kpc) over broad ranges of redshift (1 1E42 erg/s).

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Yue Shen, J. Andrew Casey-Clyde, Yu-Ching Chen, Arran Gross, Melanie Habouzit, Hsiang-Chih Hwang, Yuzo Ishikawa, Jun-Yao Li, Xin Liu, Chiara M. F. Mingarelli, D. Porquet, Aaron Stemo, Ming-Yang Zhuang. 2023-06-27. Discovery and Characterization of Galactic-scale Dual Supermassive Black Holes Across Cosmic Time. https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.15527

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