Evidence of jet-caused 12-year optical periodicity of blazar OJ 287

Abstract

Blazar OJ 287 is one of the first candidates with the assumed compact system of two supermassive black holes in the center. Orbital interaction in this system has been used to explain the for over a century light curve, in which optical flares are repeated with a quasi-period of 12 years and have almost yearly duration. The absence of the predicted flare in 2022 casts doubt on the dominant model of a close system of binary black holes. The detection of optical flares outside the 12-year period and their interpretation by processes in the jet complicates the construction of a complete picture of the blazar OJ 287 optical variability. Here, we analyze the 50-year evolution of the optical spectrum and prove that the changing coefficient of relativistic boosting of two regions in a helical jet subject to an age-long orientation change forms all flares. Our findings indicate the absence of the compact binary black hole system and the impossibility of drawing reliable conclusions about the central engine of active galactic nuclei based only on the quasi-periodic brightness variability of blazars.