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We present the results of a 2-epoch variability survey in the Hubble Deep Field with the goal of investigating the population of AGN to z=1. The primary data sets analyzed for galactic variability are the original HDF observations obtained…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-10 Vicki L. Sarajedini , Ronald L. Gilliland , Christina Kasm

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) sources feature supermassive black holes that launch relativistic plasma jets. They are key $\gamma$-ray sources providing a unique laboratory for studying extreme particle acceleration and plasma physics.…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2026-02-03 Luana Passos-Reis , Elisabete M. de Gouveia Dal Pino , Tarek Hassan , Santiago Pita , Alberto Domínguez

Massive black hole binaries are expected to be observable as periodic AGN in time-domain photometric surveys. Periodicities may originate from different physical processes, including the intermittent gas feeding of the black holes caused by…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-05-26 Lorenzo Bertassi , Maria Charisi , Riccardo Buscicchio , Fabio Rigamonti , Jessie Runnoe , Massimo Dotti

Long-standing optical quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) with periodicity of hundreds to thousands of days have been accepted as indicators for central sub-pc binary black hole systems (BBHs) in broad line active galactic nuclei (BLAGN).…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-03-11 Liao GuiLin , Chen XingQian , Cheng PeiZhen , Zhang XueGuang

The perfect case for time-domain investigations are active galactic nuclei (AGNs) since they are luminous objects that show strong variability. Key result from the studies of AGNs variability is the estimated mass of a supermassive black…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2021-05-05 D. Ilic , A. Kovacevic , L. C. Popovic

We report on candidate active galactic nuclei (AGN) discovered during the monitoring of $\sim$500 bright (r < 18 mag) galaxies over several years with the Kepler Mission. Most of the targets were sampled every 30 minutes nearly continuously…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-12-09 Edward J. Shaya , Robert Olling , Richard Mushotzky

Optical variability is a key observational probe for studying the accretion dynamics and central engine physics of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). The quality and completeness of light curves have a direct impact on variability studies,…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-10-31 Jiaqi Lin , Zhen-Ya Zheng , Bin Ma , Lin Long , Yangfan Xie , Pu Lin , Ruqiu Lin , Xiang Ji

We have obtained new spectropolarimetric observations at visible wavelengths of the changing-look active galactic nucleus (AGN) Mrk 1018. The AGN direct spectrum shows an extremely weak continuum with faint broad H$\beta$ and H$\alpha$…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2021-01-04 Damien Hutsemékers , Beatriz Agís González , Frédéric Marin , Dominique Sluse

We present optical light curves from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) for the archetypical dwarf active galactic nucleus (AGN) in the nearby galaxy NGC 4395 hosting a $\sim 10^5\,M_\odot$ supermassive black hole (SMBH).…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2020-08-25 Colin J. Burke , Yue Shen , Yu-Ching Chen , Simone Scaringi , Claude-Andre Faucher-Giguere , Xin Liu , Qian Yang

Context: Active Galactic Nuclei are highly variable emitters of electromagnetic waves from the radio to the gamma-ray regime. This variability may be periodic, which in turn could be the signature of a binary black hole. Systems of black…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-13 Constanze Roedig , Thomas Burkart , Oliver Elbracht , Felix Spanier

The changing-look active galactic nucleus (CL-AGN), an extraordinary subpopulation of supermassive black holes, has attracted growing attention for understanding its nature. We present an analysis of the spectral properties of 203…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-10-13 Yu-Heng Shen , Kai-Xing Lu , Wei-Jian Guo , Sha-Sha Li , Hai-Cheng Feng , Zhang Yue , Wen-Zhe Xi , Jian-Guo Wang , Jin-Ming Bai

X-ray timing of active galactic nuclei (AGN) provides a unique probe of gas accretion onto supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs), which trace gas dynamics in the strongly curved spacetime around SMBHs, are…

Double-peaked \oiii~profiles could potentially indicate kiloparsec-scale dual AGNs. We analyze long-term optical light curves of 35 type 1 AGNs with such features from our recent catalog in Zheng et al. (2025). These light curves are…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-08-04 Qi Zheng , Xingyv Zhu , Xueguang Zhang , Qirong Yuan

The physical origin of active galactic nucleus (AGN) variability remains unclear. Here we propose that the magnetic reconnection induced by the migration of satellite black holes (sBHs) in the AGN disk can be a new plausible mechanism for…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-08-26 Jing-Tong Xing , Tong Liu , Bao-Quan Huang , Mouyuan Sun

Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) variability can be used to study the physics of the region in the vicinity of the central black hole. In this paper, we investigated intra-night optical variability of AGN in the COSMOS field in order to…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2018-09-12 Joonho Kim , Marios Karouzos , Myungshin Im , Changsu Choi , Dohyeong Kim , Hyunsung D. Jun , Joon Hyeop Lee , Mar Mezcua

We report first results from a deep near infrared campaign with the Hubble Space Telescope to obtain late-epoch images of the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF), 10-15 years after the first epoch data were obtained. The main objectives are to…

Despite the increasing number of Gravitational Wave (GW) detections, the astrophysical origin of Binary Black Hole (BBH) mergers remains elusive. A promising formation channel for BBHs is inside accretion discs around supermassive black…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-10-25 Niccolò Veronesi , Elena Maria Rossi , Sjoert van Velzen

AGN, powered by accretion onto SMBHs, are thought to be scaled up versions of Galactic black hole X-ray binaries (BH-XRBs). In the past few years evidence of such correspondence include similarities in the broadband shape of the X-ray…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-06-05 O. Gonzalez-Martin , S. Vaughan

Supermassive black holes (SMBH) are typically surrounded by a dense stellar population in galactic nuclei. Stars crossing the line of site in active galactic nuclei (AGN) produce a characteristic transit lightcurve, just like extrasolar…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2012-12-18 Bence Béky , Bence Kocsis

Accreting supermassive black holes at the centres of galaxies are the engine of active galactic nuclei (AGN). X-ray light curves of unabsorbed AGN show dramatic random variability on timescales ranging from seconds to years. The power…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2025-10-29 Mehdy Lefkir , Simon Vaughan , Mike Goad , Daniela Huppenkothen , Phil Uttley