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1. Strongly Lensed Supermassive Black Hole Binaries as Nanohertz Gravitational-wave Sources

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ace16f  

   Khusid, Nicole M. ; Mingarelli, Chiara M. F. ; Natarajan, Priyamvada ; Casey-Clyde, J. Andrew ; Barnacka, Anna ( September 2023 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   Supermassive black hole binary systems (SMBHBs) should be the most powerful sources of gravitational waves (GWs) in the universe. Once pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) detect the stochastic GW background from their cosmic merger history, searching for individually resolvable binaries will take on new importance. Since these individual SMBHBs are expected to be rare, here we explore how strong gravitational lensing can act as a tool for increasing their detection prospects by magnifying fainter sources and bringing them into view. Unlike for electromagnetic waves, when the geometric optics limit is nearly always valid, for GWs the wave-diffraction-interference effects can become important when the wavelength of the GWs is larger than the Schwarzchild radius of the lens, i.e.,$M_{\mathrm{lens}}\sim {10}^8{\left(\frac{f}{\mathrm{mHz}}\right)}^{-1}{M}_{\odot }$. For the GW frequency range explored in this work, the geometric optics limit holds. We investigate GW signals from SMBHBs that might be detectable with current and future PTAs under the assumption that quasars serve as bright beacons that signal a recent merger. Using the black hole mass function derived from quasars and a physically motivated magnification distribution, we expect to detect a few strongly lensed binary systems out toz≈ 2. Additionally, for a range of fixed magnifications 2 ≤μ≤ 100, strong lensing adds up to ∼30 more detectable binaries for PTAs. Finally, we investigate the possibility of observing both time-delayed electromagnetic signals and GW signals from these strongly lensed binary systems—that will provide us with unprecedented multi-messenger insights into their orbital evolution.

    

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2. Toward Astrometric Constraints on a Supermassive Black Hole Binary in the Early-type Galaxy NGC 4472

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac680b  

   Wrobel, J. M. ; Lazio, T. J. W. ( May 2022 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   The merger of two galaxies, each hosting a supermassive black hole (SMBH) of mass 10⁶M_⊙or more, could yield a bound SMBH binary. For the early-type galaxy NGC 4472, we study how astrometry with a next-generation Very Large Array could be used to monitor the reflex motion of the primary SMBH of massM_pri, as it is tugged on by the secondary SMBH of mass$M_{\sec }$. Casting the orbit of the putative SMBH binary in terms of its periodP, semimajor axisa_bin, and mass ratio$q=M_{\sec }/M_{\mathrm{pri}}\le 1$, we find the following: (1) Orbits with fiducial periods ofP= 4 yr and 40 yr could be spatially resolved and monitored. (2) For a 95% accuracy of 2μas per monitoring epoch, subparsec values ofa_bincould be accessed over a range of mass ratios notionally encompassing major$\left(q>\frac{1}{4}\right)$and minor$\left(q<\frac{1}{4}\right)$galaxy mergers. (3) If no reflex motion is detected forM_priafter 1 (10) yr of monitoring, an SMBH binary with periodP= 4 (40) yr and mass ratioq> 0.01 (0.003) could be excluded. This would suggest no present-day evidence for a past major merger like that recently simulated, where scouring by aq∼ 1 SMBH binary formed a stellar core with kinematic traits like those of NGC 4472. (4) Astrometric monitoring could independently check the upper limits onqfrom searches for continuous gravitational waves from NGC 4472.

    

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3. Analytic genericity of diffusing orbits in a priori unstable Hamiltonian systems

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6544/ac50bb  

   Chen, Qinbo ; de la Llave, Rafael ( March 2022 , Nonlinearity)

   The genericity of Arnold diffusion in the analytic category is an open problem. In this paper, we study this problem in the followinga prioriunstable Hamiltonian system with a time-periodic perturbation${\mathcal{H}}_{\epsilon }(p,q,I,\phi ,t)=h(I)+\sum _{i=1}^n\pm \left(\frac{1}{2}{p}_i^2+V_i(q_i)\right)+\epsilon H_1(p,q,I,\phi ,t),$where$(p,q)\in {\mathbb{R}}^n\times {\mathbb{T}}^n$,$(I,\phi )\in {\mathbb{R}}^d\times {\mathbb{T}}^d$withn,d⩾ 1,V_iare Morse potentials, andɛis a small non-zero parameter. The unperturbed Hamiltonian is not necessarily convex, and the induced inner dynamics does not need to satisfy a twist condition. Using geometric methods we prove that Arnold diffusion occurs for generic analytic perturbationsH₁. Indeed, the set of admissibleH₁isC^ωdense andC³open (a fortiori,C^ωopen). Our perturbative technique for the genericity is valid in theC^ktopology for allk∈ [3, ∞) ∪ {∞,ω}.

    

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4. The MASSIVE Survey. XVI. The Stellar Initial Mass Function in the Center of MASSIVE Early-type Galaxies

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac69ea  

   Gu, Meng ; Greene, Jenny E. ; Newman, Andrew B. ; Kreisch, Christina ; Quenneville, Matthew E. ; Ma, Chung-Pei ; Blakeslee, John P. ( June 2022 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   The stellar initial mass function (IMF) is a fundamental property in the measurement of stellar masses and galaxy star formation histories. In this work, we focus on the most massive galaxies in the nearby universe$\log (M_{\star }/M_{\odot })>11.2$. We obtain high-quality Magellan/LDSS-3 long-slit spectroscopy with a wide wavelength coverage of 0.4–1.01μm for 41 early-type galaxies (ETGs) in the MASSIVE survey and derive high signal-to-noise spectra within an aperture ofR_e/8. Using detailed stellar synthesis models, we constrain the elemental abundances and stellar IMF of each galaxy through full spectral modeling. All the ETGs in our sample have an IMF that is steeper than a Milky Way (Kroupa) IMF. The best-fit IMF mismatch parameter,α_IMF= (M/L)/(M/L)_MW, ranges from 1.1 to 3.1, with an average of 〈α_IMF〉 = 1.84, suggesting that on average, the IMF is more bottom heavy than Salpeter. Comparing the estimated stellar masses with the dynamical masses, we find that most galaxies have stellar masses that are smaller than their dynamical masses within the 1σuncertainty. We complement our sample with lower-mass galaxies from the literature and confirm that$\log ({\alpha }_{\mathrm{IMF}})$is positively correlated with$\log (\sigma )$,$\log (M_{\star })$, and$\log (M_{\mathrm{dyn}})$. From the combined sample, we show that the IMF in the centers of more massive ETGs is more bottom heavy. In addition, we find that$\log ({\alpha }_{\mathrm{IMF}})$is positively correlated with both [Mg/Fe] and the estimated total metallicity [Z/H]. We find suggestive evidence that the effective stellar surface density Σ_Kroupamight be responsible for the variation ofα_IMF. We conclude thatσ, [Mg/Fe], and [Z/H] are the primary drivers of the global stellar IMF variation.

    

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5. Acceleration and Spectral Redistribution of Cosmic Rays in Radio-jet Shear Flows

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acfda9  

   Webb, G. M. ; Xu, Y. ; Biermann, P. L. ; Al-Nussirat, S. ; Mostafavi, P. ; Li, G. ; Barghouty, A. F. ; Zank, G. P. ( November 2023 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   A steady-state, semi-analytical model of energetic particle acceleration in radio-jet shear flows due to cosmic-ray viscosity obtained by Webb et al. is generalized to take into account more general cosmic-ray boundary spectra. This involves solving a mixed Dirichlet–Von Neumann boundary value problem at the edge of the jet. The energetic particle distribution functionf₀(r,p) at cylindrical radiusrfrom the jet axis (assumed to lie along thez-axis) is given by convolving the particle momentum spectrum$f_0(\infty ,p\prime )$with the Green’s function$G(r,p;p\prime )$, which describes the monoenergetic spectrum solution in which$f_0\to \delta (p-p\prime )$asr→ ∞ . Previous work by Webb et al. studied only the Green’s function solution for$G(r,p;p\prime )$. In this paper, we explore for the first time, solutions for more general and realistic forms for$f_0(\infty ,p\prime )$. The flow velocityu=u(r)e_zis along the axis of the jet (thez-axis).uis independent ofz, andu(r) is a monotonic decreasing function ofr. The scattering time$\tau {(r,p)={\tau }_0(p/p_0)}^{\alpha }$in the shear flow region 0 <r<r₂, and$\tau {(r,p)={\tau }_0(p/p_0)}^{\alpha }{(r/r_2)}^s$, wheres> 0 in the regionr>r₂is outside the jet. Other original aspects of the analysis are (i) the use of cosmic ray flow lines in (r,p) space to clarify the particle spatial transport and momentum changes and (ii) the determination of the probability distribution${\psi }_p(r,p;p\prime )$that particles observed at (r,p) originated fromr→ ∞ with momentum$p\prime$. The acceleration of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays in active galactic nuclei jet sources is discussed. Leaky box models for electron acceleration are described.

    

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