VaDAR: Varstrometry for Dual AGN Using Radio Interferometry

• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad0ed0
• Publication Date: 2024-01-30T15:10:50Z
• Authors: Emma Schwartzman; Tracy E. Clarke; Kristina Nyland; Nathan J. Secrest; Ryan W. Pfeifle; Henrique Schmitt; Shobita Satyapal; Barry Rothberg
• Keywords: Very-long-baseline interferometry

Abstract Binary and dual active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are an important observational tool for studying the formation dynamical evolution of galaxies supermassive black holes. An entirely new method identifying possible AGN pairs makes use exquisite positional accuracy Gaia to detect astrometrically variable quasars, in tandem with high spatial resolution Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). We present a pilot study radio observations 18 quasars (0.8 ≤ z 2.9), selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR16Q matched DR3. All targets identified by their excess astrometric noise Gaia. targeted these VLA at 2–4 GHz ( S band) 8–12 X band), providing resolutions 0.″65 0.″2, respectively, order constrain origin this variability. combine data ancillary survey perform spectral modeling. The used driver noise. find that ∼44% target sample is likely be either candidate or gravitationally lensed quasars. Ultimately, we strategy help identify understand demonstrating potential systematically kiloparsec-scale