A Jetted Wandering Massive Black Hole Candidate in a Dwarf Galaxy (2508.17293v1)
Abstract: Wandering massive black holes (MBHs) are thought to form through gravitational recoil or galaxy mergers, but observational confirmation of their displacement in dwarf galaxies, critical laboratories for early-universe SMBH seeding, remains scarce. Using multi-epoch very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), we identify a displaced MBH in the dwarf galaxy MaNGA 12772-12704, located 0.94 kilo-parsec from its optical center. The source exhibits unambiguous signatures of an accreting MBH: a brightness temperature exceeding $109$K, a parsec-scale jet, and flux density variability over a 30-year baseline. This system provides the first robust evidence that dynamical black hole interactions predicted in hierarchical galaxy evolution occur even in low-mass hosts. The discovery challenges models requiring centralized gas reservoirs for MBH growth and directly informs high-redshift seeding scenarios.
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