Periodic variability and binary black hole systems in blazars

Abstract

We consider the periodic modulation of emission from jets in blazar-type sources. A differential Doppler boosting origin, associated with the helical motion of a radiating component, is analyzed for different periodic driving sources including orbital motion and jet precession in a binary black hole system (BBHS). We emphasize that for non-ballistic helical motion classical travel time effects can lead to strong shortening effects, such that the observed period may be a factor $γ_b^2$ smaller than the underlying driving period, where $γ_b$ denotes the bulk Lorentz factor of the jet flow. The relevance of the above noted scenarios is discussed for the BL Lac object AO 0235+16.