The goal of this collaborative project is to carry out a systematic search for sub-parsec supermassive black hole binaries (SBHBs) using as the primary signature the Doppler shift of the broad emission lines emitted by gas that is bound to one of the black holes. Finding such close SBHBs constitutes a crucial test of modern scenarios for galaxy evolution that predict their presence. The program will also test a variety of other physical models that invoke SBHBs to explain the formation of stellar cusps after galaxy mergers and mass deficits therein and models for precessing radio jets and X-shaped radio sources.
Broader impacts of the work include training of an undergraduate student and a postdoc, outreach via public lectures, and lab experiments for non-scientist astronomy students.
