Related papers: Intranight Optical Variability of Radio-Quiet Weak…
This is continuation of our search for the elusive radio-quiet blazars, by carrying out a systematic programme to detect intranight optical variability (INOV) in a subset of `Weak-Lines-Quasars' (WLQs) which are designated as `high…
We report an extension of our program to search for radio-quiet BL Lac candidates using intra-night optical variability (INOV) as a probe. The present INOV observations cover a well-defined representative set of 10 `radio-quiet…
Based on a recently started programme, we report the first search for intranight optical variability among radio-quiet weak-line-quasars (RQWLQs). Eight members of this class were observed on 13 nights in the R-band, such that each source…
Although well established for BL Lac objects and radio-loud quasars, the occurrence of intra-night optical variability (INOV) in radio-quiet quasars is still debated, primarily since only a handful of INOV events with good statistical…
We present the results of a comparative study of the intra-night optical variability (INOV) characteristics of radio-loud and radio-quiet quasars, which involves a systematic intra-night optical monitoring of seven sets of high luminosity…
We report the results of our intensive intranight optical monitoring of 8 `radio-intermediate quasars' (RIQs) having flat or inverted radio spectra. The monitoring was carried out in {\it R-} band on 25 nights during 2005-09. An intranight…
We present results of a programme of multi-epoch, intra-night optical monitoring of a sample of non-blazar type AGN, which includes seven radio-quiet QSOs (RQQs) and an equal number of radio-loud, lobe-dominated quasars (LDQs), covering a…
We report optical monitoring observations of 20 high-luminosity AGN, 12 of which are radio-quiet quasars (RQQs). Intra-night optical variability (INOV) was detected for 13 of the 20 objects, including 5 RQQs. The variations are distinctly…
We present results of a multi-epoch intra-night optical monitoring of eleven blazars consisting of six BL Lac objects and five radio core-dominated quasars (CDQs). These densely sampled and sensitive R-band CCD observations, carried out…
We explore the potential of the ongoing Zwicky-Transient-Facility (ZTF) survey for studying Intra-Night Optical Variability (INOV) of active galactic nuclei (AGN), in particular for picking rare events of large INOV amplitudes, whose…
Our recently reported lack of Intra-Night Optical Variability (INOV) among Broad-Absorption-Line (BAL) quasars exhibiting some blazar-like radio properties, either questions polar ejection of BAL clouds, and/or hints at a physical state of…
For a new sample of 8 weak-line-quasars (WLQs) we report a sensitive search in 20 intranight monitoring sessions, for blazar-like optical flux variations on hour-like and longer time scale (day/month/year$-$like). The sample consists…
The incidence of intra-night optical variability (INOV) is known to to differ significantly among different classes of powerful active galactic nuclei (AGN). A number of statistical methods have been employed in the literature for testing…
We report a novel pilot project to characterise intra-night optical variability (INOV) of an extremely rare type of quasar, which has recently been caught in the act of transiting from a radio-quiet to radio-loud state, on a decadal time…
We present the results of an optical photometric monitoring program of 10 extremely radio loud broad absorption line quasars (RL-BALQSOs) with radio-loudness parameter, R, greater than 100 and magnitude g_i < 19. Over an observing run of…
{Abridged} Rapid variations in optical flux are seen in many quasars and all blazars. The amount of variability in different classes of Active Galactic Nuclei has been studied extensively but many questions remain unanswered. We present the…
In this first systematic attempt to characterise the intranight optical variability (INOV) of TeV detected blazars, we have monitored a well defined set of 9 TeV blazars on total 26 nights during 2004-2010. In this R (or V)-band monitoring…
Variability studies of active galactic nuclei are a powerful diagnostic tool in understanding the physical processes occurring in disk-jet regions, unresolved by direct imaging with currently available techniques. Here, we report the first…
A small subset of optically selected radio-quiet quasars showing weak or no emission lines may turn out to be the elusive radio-quiet BL Lac objects, or simply be radio-quiet QSOs with a still-forming/shielded broad line region (BLR). High…
This overview provides a historical perspective highlighting the pioneering role which the fairly modest observational facilities of ARIES have played since the 1990s in systematically characterizing the optical variability on hour-like…