Millihertz oscillations near the innermost orbit of a supermassive black hole

Megan Masterson (), Erin Kara, Christos Panagiotou, William N. Alston, Joheen Chakraborty, Kevin Burdge, Claudio Ricci, Sibasish Laha, Iair Arcavi, Riccardo Arcodia, S. Bradley Cenko, Andrew C. Fabian, Javier A. García, Margherita Giustini, Adam Ingram, Peter Kosec, Michael Loewenstein, Eileen T. Meyer, Giovanni Miniutti, Ciro Pinto, Ronald A. Remillard, Dev R. Sadaula, Onic I. Shuvo, Benny Trakhtenbrot and Jingyi Wang
Additional contact information
Megan Masterson: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Erin Kara: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Christos Panagiotou: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
William N. Alston: University of Hertfordshire
Joheen Chakraborty: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Kevin Burdge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Claudio Ricci: Universidad Diego Portales
Sibasish Laha: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Iair Arcavi: Tel Aviv University
Riccardo Arcodia: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
S. Bradley Cenko: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Andrew C. Fabian: University of Cambridge
Javier A. García: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Margherita Giustini: CSIC-INTA
Adam Ingram: Newcastle University
Peter Kosec: Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian
Michael Loewenstein: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Eileen T. Meyer: University of Maryland Baltimore County
Giovanni Miniutti: CSIC-INTA
Ciro Pinto: INAF - IASF Palermo
Ronald A. Remillard: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dev R. Sadaula: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Onic I. Shuvo: University of Maryland Baltimore County
Benny Trakhtenbrot: Tel Aviv University
Jingyi Wang: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nature, 2025, vol. 638, issue 8050, 370-375

Abstract: Abstract Recent discoveries from time-domain surveys are defying our expectations for how matter accretes onto supermassive black holes (SMBHs). The increased rate of short-timescale, repetitive events around SMBHs, including the recently discovered quasi-periodic eruptions1–5, are garnering further interest in stellar-mass companions around SMBHs and the progenitors to millihertz-frequency gravitational-wave events. Here we report the discovery of a highly significant millihertz quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) in an actively accreting SMBH, 1ES 1927+654, which underwent a major optical, ultraviolet and X-ray outburst beginning in 20186,7. The QPO was detected in 2022 with a roughly 18-minute period, corresponding to coherent motion on a scale of less than 10 gravitational radii, much closer to the SMBH than typical quasi-periodic eruptions. The period decreased to 7.1 minutes over 2 years with a decelerating period evolution ( $$\ddot{P}$$ P ¨ greater than zero). To our knowledge, this evolution has never been seen in SMBH QPOs or high-frequency QPOs in stellar-mass black holes. Models invoking orbital decay of a stellar-mass companion struggle to explain the period evolution without stable mass transfer to offset angular-momentum losses, and the lack of a direct analogue to stellar-mass black-hole QPOs means that many instability models cannot explain all of the observed properties of the QPO in 1ES 1927+654. Future X-ray monitoring will test these models, and if it is a stellar-mass orbiter, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) should detect its low-frequency gravitational-wave emission.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08385-x

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