English

Reverberation Mapping of Changing-look Active Galactic Nucleus NGC 3516

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2021-03-10 v1

Abstract

The changes of broad emission lines should be a crucial issue to understanding the physical properties of changing-look active galactic nucleus (CL-AGN). Here, we present the results of an intensive and homogeneous 6-month long reverberation mapping (RM) monitoring campaign during a low-activity state of the CL-AGN Seyfert galaxy NGC 3516. Photometric and spectroscopic monitoring was carried out during 2018--2019 with the Lijiang 2.4 m telescope. The sampling is 2 days in most nights, and the average sampling is \sim3 days. The rest frame time lags of Hα\alpha and Hβ\beta are τHα=7.562.10+4.42\tau_{\rm{H}\alpha}=7.56^{+4.42}_{-2.10} days and τHβ=7.500.77+2.05\tau_{\rm{H}\beta}=7.50^{+2.05}_{-0.77} days, respectively. From a RMS Hβ\beta line dispersion of σline=1713.3±46.7\sigma_{\rm{line}} = 1713.3 \pm 46.7 km\rm{km} s1\rm{s^{-1}} and a virial factor of fσf_{\sigma} = 5.5, the central black hole mass of NGC 3516 is estimated to be MBH=2.40.3+0.7×107MM_{\rm{BH}}= 2.4^{+0.7}_{-0.3} \times 10^{7} M_{\odot}, which is in agreement with previous estimates. The velocity-resolved delays show that the time lags increase towards negative velocity for both Hα\alpha and Hβ\beta. The velocity-resolved RM of Hα\alpha is done for the first time. These RM results are consistent with other observations before the spectral type change, indicating a basically constant BLR structure during the changing-look process. The CL model of changes of accretion rate seems to be favored by long-term Hβ\beta variability and RM observations of NGC 3516.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2012.15572,
  title  = {Reverberation Mapping of Changing-look Active Galactic Nucleus NGC 3516},
  author = {Hai-Cheng. Feng and Chen. Hu and Sha-Sha. Li and H. T. Liu and J. M. Bai and Li-Feng. Xing and Wei-Yang. Wang and Zi-Xu. Yang and Ming. Xiao and Kai-Xing. Lu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2012.15572},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

25 pages, 6 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ