Speaker
Description
Massive black hole binaries (MBHBs) are expected to be among the loudest gravitational wave sources to be detected by pulsar timing arrays and space-borne interferometers. If accreting, MBHBs at sub-parsec separations can be identified through periodic variability in their light curves. Current periodicity detection methods are largely optimised for quasi-sinusoidal signals, whereas the predicted lightcurves from MBHBs present a much richer phenomenology. In this talk, I will present a periodicity detection method based on Gaussian processes that flexibly models periodic variability independently of its specific shape. I will then introduce a spectroscopic test to distinguish photometrically selected MBHB candidates from single massive black holes with quasi-periodic continuum variability, using the response of the broad-line region.
| Parallel session | Gravitational Waves from Binary Systems |
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