Outbursts in OJ 287: A New Test for the General Theory of Relativity

摘要

The quasar OJ 287 has a light curve extending over 100 years. It has been photographed accidentally since 1893. In recent years, systematic monitoring has been carried out, e.g., by the large monitoring campaign OJ-94, which was set up to check whether the quasar brightens above the usual brightness level in 1994 as it has done regularly at 12 yr intervals since at least 1910. The large outburst in 1994 came as expected. A detailed analysis of the light curve led to a binary black hole model that predicts all future outbursts with the expected accuracy of 1 week. The first pre diction of the new model was a second outburst that should have begun in 1995 November and should have extended until 1996 January.