Related papers: On the UV/optical variation in NGC 5548: new evide…
Lags measured from correlated X-ray/UV/optical monitoring of AGN allow us to determine whether UV/optical variability is driven by reprocessing of X-rays or X-ray variability is driven by UV/optical seed photon variations. We present the…
The tight inter-band correlation and the lag-wavelength relation among UV/optical continua of active galactic nuclei have been firmly established. They are usually understood within the widespread reprocessing scenario, however, the implied…
The UV/optical variability of AGN has long been thought to be driven by the X-ray illumination of the accretion disk. However, recent multi-wavelength campaigns of nearby Seyfert galaxies seem to challenge this paradigm, with an apparent…
We report on the largest Swift AGN monitoring program, concerning UV/optical variability in Seyferts. From 554 observations, over a 750d period, of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 5548, we see (McHardy et al. 2014) a good overall correlation between…
Recent intensive monitoring campaigns of active galactic nuclei (AGN) have provided simultaneous X-ray, UV, and optical data of unprecedented quality. The observations reveal a strong correlation between the UV and optical variability, but…
The new multi-wavelength monitoring campaign on NGC 5548 shows clearly that the variability of the UV/optical lightcurves lags by progressively longer times at longer wavelengths, as expected from reprocessing of an optically thick disk,…
Recent intense X-ray and UV monitoring campaigns with Swift have detected clear UV lags behind X-ray in several local active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The UV to X-ray lags are often larger (by a factor up to ~ 20) than expected if the UV…
NGC 5548 has been intensively monitored by the AGN Space Telescope and Optical Reverberation Mapping collaboration. Approximately after half of the light curves, the correlation between the broad emission lines and the lag-corrected…
We describe a model-independent method of assessing the uncertainties in cross-correlation lags determined from AGN light curves, and use this method to investigate the reality of lags between UV and optical continuum variations in…
Recently, nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN) have been subject to long X-rays/UV/optical monitoring campaigns. These campaigns reveal a strong correlation between the various UV and optical bands, with time lags increasing with wavelength.…
We present our investigation into the long-term variability of the X-ray obscuration and optical-UV-X-ray continuum in the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548. In 2013 and 2014, the Swift observatory monitored NGC 5548 on average every day or two,…
Recent intensive Swift monitoring of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 yielded 282 usable epochs over 125 days across six UV/optical bands and the X-rays. This is the densest extended AGN UV/optical continuum sampling ever obtained, with a mean…
We test the general wisdom that AGN continua vary with larger amplitude at shorter wavelengths, through a re-analysis of historical data from the optical and UV (IUE) monitoring campaign on the Seyfert 1 galaxy NCG 5548 by the AGN Watch…
During an extensive multiwavelength campaign that we performed in 2013-14 the prototypical Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 has been found in an unusual condition of heavy and persistent obscuration. The newly discovered "obscurer" absorbs most of…
Over the last years, a number of broadband reverberation mapping campaigns have been conducted to explore the short-term UV and optical variability of nearby AGN. Despite the extensive data collected, the origin of the observed variability…
NGC 5548 was recently monitored intensively from NIR to X-rays as part of the STORM campaign. Its disc emission was found to lag behind the observed X-rays, while the measured time lag was increasing with wavelength. These results are…
We analyse 15 XMM-Newton observations of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4051 obtained over 45 days to determine the ultraviolet (UV) light curve variability characteristics and search for correlated UV/X-ray emission. The UV light curve shows…
We present a detailed multi-frequency analysis of an intense monitoring programme of Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4593 over a duration of nearly for a month with Swift observatory. We used 185 pointings to study the variability in six…
We present results of a 3-month combined X-ray/UV/optical monitoring campaign of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 6814. The object was monitored by Swift from June through August 2012 in the X-ray and UV bands and by the Liverpool Telescope from…
It is generally thought that AGN optical variability is produced, at least in part, by reprocessing of central X-rays by a surrounding accretion disc, resulting in wavelength-dependent lags between bands. Any good model of AGN optical…