English
Related papers

Related papers: Untangling the Complex Nature of AGN Variability w…

200 papers

Active galactic nuclei (AGN) light curves observed with different wavebands show that the variability in longer wavelength bands lags the variability in shorter wavelength bands. Measuring these lags, or reverberation mapping, is used to…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-11-21 Amy Secunda , Yan-Fei Jiang , Jenny E. Greene

Accretion disk winds are commonly observed in active galactic nuclei (AGN). The winds may be associated with the changing spectral properties of such sources, yet such connections have not been studied in detail so far. This paper presents…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-04-29 Hagai Netzer

We study the X-ray variability properties of distant AGNs in the Chandra Deep Field-South region over 17 years, up to $z\sim 4$, and compare them with those predicted by models based on local samples. We use the results of Monte Carlo…

Over the next ten years, the Vera C.\ Rubin Observatory (VRO) will observe $\sim$10 million active galactic nuclei (AGN) with a regular and high cadence. During this time, the intensities of most of these AGN will fluctuate stochastically.…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2022-12-20 Cyril Creque-Sarbinowski , Marc Kamionkowski , Bei Zhou

We systematically analyze X-ray variability of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the 7~Ms \textit{Chandra} Deep Field-South survey. On the longest timescale ($\approx~17$ years), we find only weak (if any) dependence of X-ray variability…

We discuss a model of X-ray variability of active galactic nuclei (AGN). We consider multiple spots which originate on the surface of an accretion disk following intense irradiation by coronal flares. The spots move with the disk around the…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-10 B. Czerny , A. Rozanska , M. Dovciak , V. Karas , A. -M. Dumont

We performed a detailed spectral and timing analysis of a Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 509 using data from the Neil Gehrels Swift observatory that spanned over ~13 years between 2006 and 2019. To study the variability properties from the optical/UV…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-06-22 Neeraj Kumari , Main Pal , Sachindra Naik , Arghajit Jana , Gaurava K. Jaisawal , Pankaj kushwaha

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

The All Sky Monitor (ASM) onboard the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) has continuously monitored a number of Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with similar sampling rates for 14 years from 1996 January to 2009 December. Utilizing the…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-05-20 You-Hong Zhang

The X-ray emission of radio-loud (RL) AGNs is a powerful tool for probing the structure of the accretion flow in these objects. We review recent spectral and variability studies of RL AGNs, which show that these systems have systematically…

Astrophysics · Physics 2016-08-30 Rita M. Sambruna , Michael Eracleous

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…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-06-22 I. M. McHardy , D. T. Cameron , T. Dwelly , S. Connolly , P. Lira , D. Emmanoulopoulos , J. Gelbord , E. Breedt , P. Arevalo , P. Uttley

Physical models of X-ray binary outbursts can aid in understanding the origin of 'changing-look' active galactic nuclei (AGN), if we can establish that these two black hole accretion phenomena are analogous. Previously, studies of the…

Within the standard accretion disk theory for active galactic nuclei (AGN), the observed X-rays are often modeled by Compton up-scattering of ultraviolet (UV) disk photons inside a hot disk corona. Here, we point out that for many AGN,…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-13 Daniel Proga

Theory and observations of the dominant thermal continuum emission in AGNs are examined. After correction for reddening, the steady state AGN optical--UV spectral energy distributions (SEDs) are very similar. The SEDs are dominated…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-11-15 C. Martin Gaskell

We investigate the X-ray variability characteristics of hard X-ray selected AGNs (based on Swift/BAT data) in the soft X-ray band using the RXTE/ASM data. The uncertainties involved in the individual dwell measurements of ASM are critically…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2011-02-11 V. R. Chitnis , J. K. Pendharkar , D. Bose , V. K. Agrawal , A. R. Rao , R. Misra

In this work, which is a continuation of Castell\'o-Mor et al. (2016), we present new X-ray and infrared (IR) data for a sample of active galactic nuclei (AGN) covering a wide range in Eddington ratio over a small luminosity range. In…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2017-02-01 Núria Castelló-Mor , Shai Kaspi , Hagai Netzer , Pu Du , Chen Hu , Luis C. Ho , Jin-Ming Bai , Wei-Hao Bian , Ye-Fei Yuan , Jian-Min Wang

We present the results from a systematic analysis of the X-ray continuum (`hard') time-lags and intrinsic coherence between the $2-4\,\mathrm{keV}$ and various energy bands in the $0.3-10\,\mathrm{keV}$ range, for ten X-ray bright and…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2017-03-14 A. Epitropakis , I. E. Papadakis

Extreme continuum variability in AGNs can indicate extreme changes in accretion flows onto supermassive black holes. We explore the multiwavelength nature of a continuum flare in the Seyfert LCRS B040659.9$-$385922. The all-sky X-ray…

Variability at all observed wavelengths is a distinctive property of AGN. Hard X-rays provide us with a view of the innermost regions of AGN, mostly unbiased by absorption along the line of sight. Swift/BAT offers the unique opportunity to…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-06-17 S. Soldi , V. Beckmann , W. H. Baumgartner , G. Ponti , C. R. Shrader , P. Lubinski , H. A. Krimm , F. Mattana , J. Tueller

The UV-X continuum, the X-ray spectral features, and the variability in these bands provide powerful tools for studying the innermost regions of AGNs from which we gain an insight into the accretion process. In this chapter the discussion…

Astrophysics · Physics 2016-11-03 Suzy Collin