Tracing the Light: Identification for the Optical Counterpart Candidates of Binary Black Holes during O3

作者：Lei He, Zhengyan Liu, Rui Niu, Boyi Gao, M Zhou, P. Zou, Runduo Liang, Wen Zhao, Ning Jiang, Zhen-Yi Cai, Zi-Gao Dai, Ye-Fei Yuan · 发表于：The Astrophysical Journal · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3847/1538-4357/adf284 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research、Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations、Cosmology and Gravitation Theories

Abstract The accretion disks of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are widely considered the ideal environments for binary black hole mergers and the only plausible sites for their electromagnetic counterparts. M. J. Graham et al. (2023) identified seven AGN flares that are potentially associated with gravitational wave (GW) events detected by the LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA Collaboration during the third observing run. In this article, utilizing an additional three years of Zwicky Transient Facility public data after their discovery, we conduct an updated analysis and find that only three flares can be identified. By implementing a joint analysis of optical and GW data through a Bayesian framework, we find two flares exhibit a strong correlation with GW events, with no secondary flares observed in their host AGN up to 2024 October 31. Combining these two most robust associations, we derive a Hubble constant measurement of H 0 = 72 . 1 − 23.1 + 23.9 km s − 1 Mpc − 1 and incorporating the multimessenger event GW170817 improves the precision to H 0 = 73 . 5 − 6.9 + 9.8 km s − 1 Mpc − 1 . Both results are consistent with existing measurements reported in the literature.