Probing AGN jet precession with LISA

TL;DR

This paper explores how LISA gravitational wave observations can be used to understand the precession of jets in active galactic nuclei, linking binary black hole mergers to jet dynamics through disk models.

Contribution

It introduces a semi-analytic model connecting black hole binary inspiral, disk behavior, and jet precession, highlighting the impact of disk breaking and alignment on observable timescales.

Findings

Tidal torquing causes a wide range of jet precession timescales.

Shorter precession times (~1 yr) correlate with higher LISA signal-to-noise ratios.

Disk breaking can lead to precession times up to 10^7 years.

Abstract

The precession of astrophysical jets produced by active-galactic nuclei is likely related to the dynamics of the accretion disks surrounding the central supermassive black holes (BHs) from which jets are launched. The two main mechanisms that can drive jet precession arise from Lense-Thirring precession and tidal torquing. These can explain direct and indirect observations of precessing jets; however, such explanations often utilize crude approximations of the disk evolution and observing jet precession can be challenging with electromagnetic facilities. Simultaneously, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is expected to measure gravitational waves from the mergers of massive binary BHs with high accuracy and probe their progenitor evolution. In this paper, we connect the LISA detectability of binary BH mergers to the possible jet precession during their progenitor evolution. We make use of a semi-analytic model that self-consistently treats disk-driven BH alignment and binary inspiral and includes the possibility of disk breaking. We find that tidal torquing of the accretion disk provides a wide range of jet precession timescales depending on the binary separation and the spin direction of the BH from which the jet is launched. Efficient disk-driven BH alignment results in shorter timescales of $\sim 1$ yr which are correlated with higher LISA signal-to-noise ratios. Disk breaking results in the longest possible times of $\sim 10^7$ yrs, suggesting a deep interplay between the disk critical obliquity (i.e. where the disk breaks) and jet precession. Studies such as ours will help to reveal the cosmic population of precessing jets that are detectable with gravitational waves.