  Binary and dual active galactic nuclei (AGN) are an important observational
tool for studying the formation and dynamical evolution of galaxies and
supermassive black holes (SMBHs). An entirely new method for identifying
possible AGN pairs makes use of the exquisite positional accuracy of Gaia to
detect astrometrically-variable quasars, in tandem with the high spatial
resolution of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). We present a new pilot
study of radio observations of 18 quasars (0.8 < z < 2.9), selected from the
SDSS DR16Q and matched with the Gaia DR3. All 18 targets are identified by
their excess astrometric noise in Gaia. We targeted these 18 quasars with the
VLA at 2-4 GHz (S-band) and 8-12 GHz (X-band), providing resolutions of 0.65"
and 0.2", respectively, in order to constrain the origin of this variability.
We combine these data with ancillary radio survey data and perform radio
spectral modeling. The new observations are used to constrain the driver of the
excess astrometric noise. We find that ~39% of the target sample is likely to
be either candidate dual AGN or gravitationally lensed quasars. Ultimately, we
use this new strategy to help identify and understand this sample of
astrometrically-variable quasars, demonstrate the potential of this method for
systematically identifying kpc-scale dual quasars.
