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A periodicity of ∼1 hour in X-ray emission from the active galaxy RE J1034+396

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Abstract

Active galactic nuclei and quasars are thought to be scaled-up versions of Galactic black hole binaries, powered by accretion onto supermassive black holes with masses of 106–109 , as opposed to the ∼10  in binaries (here is the solar mass). One example of the similarities between these two types of systems is the characteristic rapid X-ray variability seen from the accretion flow1. The power spectrum of this variability in black hole binaries consists of a broad noise with multiple quasi-periodic oscillations superimposed on it. Although the broad noise component has been observed in many active galactic nuclei2,3, there have hitherto been no significant detections of quasi-periodic oscillations4,5,6. Here we report the discovery of an ∼1-hour X-ray periodicity in a bright active galaxy, RE J1034+396. The signal is highly statistically significant (at the 5.6σ level) and very coherent, with quality factor Q > 16. The X-ray modulation arises from the direct vicinity of the black hole.

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Figure 1: XMM-Newton light curve of RE J1034+396.
Figure 2: Folded light curve.
Figure 3: Power spectral distribution.

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Acknowledgements

M.G. was supported in part by the Polish MNiSW (NN203065933). C.D. acknowledges financial support through a PPARC senior fellowship.

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  1. Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK,

    Marek Gierliński, Matthew Middleton, Martin Ward & Chris Done

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  1. Marek Gierliński
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  2. Matthew Middleton
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  3. Martin Ward
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  4. Chris Done
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Correspondence to Marek Gierliński.

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Gierliński, M., Middleton, M., Ward, M. et al. A periodicity of ∼1 hour in X-ray emission from the active galaxy RE J1034+396. Nature 455, 369–371 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07277

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