High accuracy measurement of gravitational wave back-reaction in the OJ287 black hole binary

Abstract

The binary black hole (BBH) central engine of OJ287 exhibits large thermal flares at least twice every 12 years. The times of these flares have been predicted successfully using the simple rule that they are generated at a constant phase angle of a quasi-Keplerian eccentric orbit. In this model a secondary black hole goes around a primary black hole, impacting the accretion 1 2 M.J. Valtonen & al.disk of the latter twice per orbital period, creating the thermal flares. New measurements of the historical light…