Kepler Observations of Rapid Optical Variability in Active Galactic Nuclei
Astrophysics of Galaxies
2015-06-03 v1
Abstract
Over three quarters in 2010-2011, Kepler monitored optical emission from four active galactic nuclei (AGN) with ~30 min sampling, >90% duty cycle, and <~0.1% repeatability. These data determined the AGN optical fluctuation power spectral density functions (PSDs) over a wide range in temporal frequency. Fits to these PSDs yielded power law slopes of -2.6 to -3.3, much steeper than typically seen in the X-rays. We find evidence that individual AGN exhibit intrinsically different PSD slopes. The steep PSD fits are a challenge to recent AGN variability models but seem consistent with first order MRI theoretical calculations of accretion disk fluctuations.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1111.0672,
title = {Kepler Observations of Rapid Optical Variability in Active Galactic Nuclei},
author = {Richard F. Mushotzky and Rick Edelson and Wayne H. Baumgartner and Poshak Gandhi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1111.0672},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
Accepted by Astrophysical Journal Letters, 31 Oct 2011