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Related papers: Variability in active galactic nuclei: confrontati…

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Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are multiwavelength emitters. To have any hope of understanding them, or even to determine their energy output, we must observe them with many telescopes. I will review what we have learned from broad-band…

Astrophysics · Physics 2007-05-23 Belinda J. Wilkes

The investigation of emission line regions within active galaxies (AGNs) has a rich and extensive history, now extending to the use of AGNs and quasars as "standardizable" cosmological indicators, shedding light on the evolution of our…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2023-11-28 Swayamtrupta Panda , Paola Marziani , Bozena Czerny , Alberto Rodriguez-Ardila , Francisco Pozo Nunez

A common feature of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) is their random variations in brightness across the whole emission spectrum, from radio to $\gamma$-rays. Studying the nature and origin of these fluctuations is critical to characterising…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-10-17 Mehdy Lefkir , Simon Vaughan , Daniela Huppenkothen , Phil Uttley , Vysakh Anilkumar

Since the discovery of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and their subclasses, a unification scheme of AGN has been long sought. Orientation-based unified models predict that some of the diversity within AGN subclasses can be explained by the…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2020-01-08 Suk Yee Yong , Rachel L. Webster , Anthea L. King , Nicholas F. Bate , Kathleen Labrie , Matthew J. O'Dowd

Aims: Active Galactic Nuclei are known to be variable throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. An energy domain poorly studied in this respect is the hard X-ray range above 20 keV. Methods: The first 9 months of the Swift/BAT all-sky survey…

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

Gamma-ray flares from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) show substantial variability on ultrafast timescales (i.e. shorter than the light crossing time of the AGN's supermassive black hole). We propose that ultrafast variability is a byproduct…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2023-04-12 Emanuele Sobacchi , Tsvi Piran , Luca Comisso

Rapid, large amplitude variability at optical to X-ray wavelengths is now seen in an increasing number of Seyfert galaxies and luminous quasars. The variations imply a global change in accretion power, but are too rapid to be communicated…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2018-11-28 Jason Dexter , Mitchell C. Begelman

The characteristic timescale at which the variability of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) turns from red noise to white noise can probe the accretion physics around supermassive black holes (SMBHs). A number of works have studied the…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-09-17 Guowei Ren , Shuying Zhou , Mouyuan Sun , Yongquan Xue

Rapid flux changes in the X-ray emission from active galactic nuclei are commonly observed. The power-density spectra show a pseudo power-law form with a turnover at low frequencies and a high frequency break, similar to galactic black-hole…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-10-31 K. Nandra

The unified model of active galactic nuclei (AGN) includes a toroidal obscuring structure to explain the differences between Type I and Type II AGN as an effect of inclination angle. This toroidal structure is thought to be 'clumpy' as the…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2023-01-19 Isaiah Cox , Nuria Torres-Alba , Stefano Marchesi , Xiurui Zhao , Marco Ajello , Andrealuna Pizzetti , Ross Silver

One of the most important features in active galactic nuclei (AGN) is the variability of their emission. Variability has been discovered at X-ray, UV, and radio frequencies on time scales from hours to years. Among the AGN family and…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2015-06-15 L. Hernández-García , O. González-Martín , I. Márquez , J. Masegosa

Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) exhibit complex variability across multiple wavelengths, reflecting diverse physical processes near their central engines. This work investigates the temporal variability of four AGNs Mrk~509, NGC~5548,…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2026-05-12 R. A. A. Souza , E. Hatziminaoglou , A. de Pádua Santos , T. Stosic

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), such as Seyfert galaxies, quasars, etc., show light variations in all wavelength bands, with various amplitude and in many time scales. The variations usually look erratic, not periodic nor purely random. Many…

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Physics 2015-05-28 Chatief Kunjaya , Putra Mahasena , Kiki Vierdayanti , Stefani Herlie

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are energetic astrophysical sources powered by accretion onto supermassive black holes in galaxies, and present unique observational signatures that cover the full electromagnetic spectrum over more than twenty…

In this study, we demonstrate some of the caveats in common statistical methods used for analysing astronomical variability timescales. We consider these issues specifically in the context of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and use a more…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2024-12-12 Sofia Kankkunen , Merja Tornikoski , Talvikki Hovatta

We discuss the impact of special relativistic effects on the observed light curves and variability duty cycles of AGNs. We model the properties of AGN light curves at radio wavelengths using a simulated shot noise process in which the…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-07 Matthew L. Lister

We examine the continuum variability of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) by analyzing the multi-epoch spectroscopic data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. To achieve this, we utilized approximately 2 million spectroscopy pairwise combinations…

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Physics 2025-11-13 Minjin Kim , Suyeon Son , Luis C. Ho

Variability is a property shared by virtually all active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and was adopted as a criterion for their selection using data from multi epoch surveys. Low Luminosity AGNs (LLAGNs) are contaminated by the light of their…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-13 D. Trevese , K. Boutsia , F. Vagnetti , E. Cappellaro , S. Puccetti

A key feature of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is their variability across all wavelengths. Typically, AGN vary by a few tenths of a magnitude or more over periods lasting from hours to years. By contrast, extreme variability of AGN -- large…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2024-03-12 Summer A. J. McLaughlin , James R. Mullaney , Stuart P. Littlefair