Discovery of a Luminous Radio Transient 460 pc from the Central Supermassive Black Hole in Cygnus A

Perley, DA; Perley, RA; Dhawan, V; Carilli, CL

Discovery of a Luminous Radio Transient 460 pc from the Central Supermassive Black Hole in Cygnus A

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Perley, DA, Perley, RA, Dhawan, V and Carilli, CL (2017) Discovery of a Luminous Radio Transient 460 pc from the Central Supermassive Black Hole in Cygnus A. The Astrophysical Journal, 841 (2). ISSN 1538-4357

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Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa725b

Abstract

We report the appearance of a new radio source at a projected offset of 460 pc from the nucleus of Cygnus A. The flux density of the source (which we designate Cygnus A-2) rose from an upper limit of <0.5 mJy in 1989 to 4 mJy in 2016 (ν = 8.5 GHz), but is currently not varying by more than a few percent per year. The radio luminosity of the source is comparable to the most luminous known supernovae, it is compact in Very Long Baseline Array observations down to a scale of 4 pc, and it is coincident with a near-infrared point source seen in pre-existing adaptive optics and HST observations. The most likely interpretation of this source is that it represents a secondary supermassive black hole in a close orbit around the Cygnus A primary, though an exotic supernova model cannot be ruled out. The gravitational influence of a secondary SMBH at this location may have played an important role in triggering the rapid accretion that has powered the Cygnus A radio jet over the past 107 years.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	0201 Astronomical And Space Sciences, 0305 Organic Chemistry, 0306 Physical Chemistry (Incl. Structural)
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions:	Astrophysics Research Institute
Publisher:	American Astronomical Society
Related URLs:	http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000402560200018&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=7f77ca1697db64ccb27a8011c7ced90d
Date of acceptance:	8 May 2017
Date of first compliant Open Access:	6 July 2017
Date Deposited:	06 Jul 2017 08:49
Last Modified:	04 Sep 2021 11:22
DOI or ID number:	10.3847/1538-4357/aa725b
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/6786

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