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dc.contributor.authorRobinson, A.
dc.contributor.authorYoung, S.
dc.contributor.authorAxon, D.J.
dc.contributor.authorKharb, P.
dc.contributor.authorSmith, J.E.
dc.date.accessioned2010-07-19T09:36:09Z
dc.date.available2010-07-19T09:36:09Z
dc.date.issued2010
dc.identifier.citationRobinson , A , Young , S , Axon , D J , Kharb , P & Smith , J E 2010 , ' Spectropolarimetric evidence for a kicked supermassive black hole in the quasar E1821+643 ' , Astrophysical Journal Letters , vol. 717 , no. 2 , pp. L122-L126 . https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/717/2/L122
dc.identifier.issn2041-8213
dc.identifier.otherPURE: 157711
dc.identifier.otherPURE UUID: 609df7d7-97a6-4434-b885-b12c5e995bdf
dc.identifier.otherdspace: 2299/4664
dc.identifier.otherScopus: 77954001228
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2299/4664
dc.descriptionOriginal article can be found at: http://iopscience.iop.org/2041-8205 Copyright American Astronomical Society [Full text of this article is not available in the UHRA]
dc.description.abstractWe report spectropolarimetric observations of the quasar E1821+643 (z = 0.297), which suggest that it may be an example of gravitational recoil due to anisotropic emission of gravitational waves following the merger of a supermassive black hole (SMBH) binary. In total flux, the broad Balmer lines are redshifted by approximate to 1000 km s(-1) relative to the narrow lines and have highly red asymmetric profiles, whereas in polarized flux the broad Ha line exhibits a blueshift of similar magnitude and a strong blue asymmetry. We show that these observations are consistent with a scattering model in which the broad-line region has two components, moving with different bulk velocities away from the observer and toward a scattering region at rest in the host galaxy. If the high-velocity system is identified as gas bound to the SMBH, this implies that the SMBH is itself moving with a velocity similar to 2100 km s(-1) relative to the host galaxy. We discuss some implications of the recoil hypothesis and also briefly consider whether our observations can be explained in terms of scattering of broad-line emission originating from the active component of an SMBH binary, or from an outflowing wind.en
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofAstrophysical Journal Letters
dc.titleSpectropolarimetric evidence for a kicked supermassive black hole in the quasar E1821+643en
dc.contributor.institutionSchool of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics
dc.contributor.institutionSchool of Creative Arts
dc.description.statusPeer reviewed
rioxxterms.versionofrecordhttps://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/717/2/L122
rioxxterms.typeJournal Article/Review
herts.preservation.rarelyaccessedtrue


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