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Related papers: Modeling reverberation mapping data I: improved ge…

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Estimates of the mass of super-massive black holes (BHs) in distant active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can be obtained efficiently only through single-epoch spectra, using a combination of their broad emission-line widths and continuum…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-04 R. J. Assef , S. Frank , C. J. Grier , C. S. Kochanek , K. D. Denney , B. M. Peterson

Binary black hole (BBH) mergers detected via gravitational waves are addressing key open questions in astrophysics, cosmology, and fundamental physics. Our scientific conclusions rely on extracting accurate source parameters, for which we…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2026-03-30 Parthapratim Mahapatra , Jonathan E. Thompson , Edward Fauchon-Jones , Mark Hannam

As part of the OzDES spectroscopic survey we are carrying out a large scale reverberation mapping study of $\sim$500 quasars over five years in the 30 deg$^2$ area of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) supernova fields. These quasars have…

Understanding the origins of massive black hole seeds and their co-evolution with their host galaxy requires studying intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) and estimating their mass. However, measuring the mass of these IMBHs is challenging…

We present four improved empirical relationships useful for estimating the central black hole mass in nearby AGNs and distant luminous quasars alike using either optical or UV single-epoch spectroscopy. These mass-scaling relationships…

Astrophysics · Physics 2008-11-26 M. Vestergaard , B. M. Peterson

While the reverberation mapping technique is the best available method for measuring black hole mass in active galactic nuclei (AGN) beyond the local volume, this method has been mainly applied to relatively low-to-moderate luminosity AGNs…

We present the publicly available model \textsc{reltrans} that calculates the light-crossing delays and energy shifts experienced by X-ray photons originally emitted close to the black hole when they reflect from the accretion disk and are…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2019-07-10 Adam Ingram , Guglielmo Mastroserio , Thomas Dauser , Pieter Hovenkamp , Michiel van der Klis , Javier A. García

We present the results of the long-term optical monitoring campaign of active galactic nuclei (AGN) coordinated by the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Science. This campaign has produced a remarkable set of…

A tight relation between the size of the broad-line region (BLR) and optical luminosity has been established in about 50 active galactic nuclei studied through reverberation mapping of the broad Hbeta emission line. The R_blr-L relation…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-06-22 Jian-Min Wang , Pu Du , Yan-Rong Li , Luis C. Ho , Chen Hu , Jin-Ming Bai

We present the results of a reverberation mapping (RM) campaign on the black hole (BH) associated with the active galactic nucleus (AGN) in SDSS J114008.71+030711.4 (hereafter GH08). This object is selected from a sample of 19 candidate…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-30 Stephen Rafter , Shai Kaspi , Ehud Behar , Wolfram Kollatschny , Matthias Zetzl

Galaxies with active galactic nuclei (AGN) exhibit broad emission lines as a key spectral feature. The shape of emission-line profiles depends on the complex dynamics of discrete clouds within a spatially extended region known as the Broad…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-10-08 M. H. Naddaf , M. L. Martinez-Aldama , D. Hutsemekers , D. Savic , B. Czerny

Direct measurements of the masses of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are key to understanding their growth and constrain their symbiotic relationship to their host galaxies. However, current methods used to directly measure black hole…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-09-29 Felix Bosco , Joseph F. Hennawi , Jonathan Stern , Jörg-Uwe Pott

X-ray reverberation echoes are assumed to be produced in the strongly distorted spacetime around accreting supermassive black holes. This signal allows us to spatially map the geometry of the inner accretion flow - a region which cannot yet…

The spectral variability of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is one of their key features that enables us to study in more details the structure of AGN emitting regions. Especially, the broad line profiles, that vary both in flux and shape,…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2016-01-20 D. Ilic , L. C. Popovic , A. I. Shapovalova , A. N. Burenkov , V. H. Chavushyan , A. Kovacevic

A calibration is made for the correlation between the X-ray Variability Amplitude (XVA) and Black Hole (BH) mass. The correlation for 21 reverberation-mapped Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) appears very tight, with an intrinsic dispersion of…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2014-11-20 Xin-Lin Zhou , Shuang-Nan Zhang , Ding-Xiong Wang , Ling Zhu

Reverberation mapping (RM) can measure black hole accretion disc sizes and radial structure through observed time lags that should increase with wavelength as $\tau\propto\lambda^{4/3}$. Our 250-day RM campaign on NGC 7469 combines sub-day…

The mass estimator used to calculate black hole (BH) masses in broad-line active galactic nuclei (AGNs) relies on a virial coefficient (the "$f$ factor") that is determined by comparing reverberation-mapped (RM) AGNs with measured bulge…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2015-06-22 Luis C. Ho , Minjin Kim

Robust extragalactic distance measurements are crucial for resolving the persistent discrepancy in the value of the Hubble constant (H$_0$)). Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs), through their compact and variable broad-line regions (BLRs),…

Gas within the influence sphere of accreting massive black holes is responsible for the emission of the broad lines observed in optical-UV spectra of unobscured active galactic nuclei. Since the region contributing the most to the broad…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-04-08 Erika Sottocorno , Mary Ogborn , Lorenzo Bertassi , Fabio Rigamonti , Michael Eracleous , Massimo Dotti

Symbolic regression (SR) is a regression analysis based on genetic algorithms to search for mathematical expressions that best fit a given data set, by allowing the expressions themselves to mutate. We use the SR to analyze the parameter…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-10-31 P. Thongkonsing , P. Chainakun , T. Worrakitpoonpon , A. J. Young