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Register a new userModeling the X-ray fractional variability spectrum of Active Galactic Nuclei using multiple flares
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R. W. Goosmann
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Using Monte-Carlo simulations of X-ray flare distributions across the accretion disk of active galactic nuclei (AGN), we obtain modeling results for the energy-dependent fractional variability amplitude. Referring to previous results of this model, we illustrate the relation between the shape of the point-to-point fractional variability spectrum, F_pp, and the time-integrated spectral energy distribution, F_E. The results confirm that the spectral shape and variability of the iron Kalpha line are dominated by the flares closest to the disk center.
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We present results on a systematic study of flux variability on hourly time-scales in a large sample of active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the 3-79 keV band using data from Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array. Our sample consists of 4 BL Lac objects (BL Lacs), 3 flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) 24 Seyfert 1, 42 Seyfert 2 and 8 narrow line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) galaxies. We find that in the 3-79 keV band, about 65% of the sources in our sample show significant variations on hourly time scales. Using Mann-Whitney U-test and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, we find no difference in the variability behaviour between Seyfert 1 and 2 galaxies. The blazar sources (FSRQs and BL Lacs) in our sample, are more variable than Seyfert galaxies that include Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 in the soft (3-10 keV), hard (10-79 keV) and total (3-79 keV) bands. NLSy1 galaxies show the highest duty cycle of variability (87%), followed by BL Lacs (82%), Seyfert galaxies (56%) and FSRQs (23%). We obtained flux doubling/halving time in the hard X-ray band less than 10 min in 11 sources. The flux variations between the hard and soft bands in all the sources in our sample are consistent with zero lag.
The observed relation between the X-ray radiation from AGNs, originating in the corona, and the optical/UV radiation from the disk is usually described by the anticorrelation between the UV to X-ray slope alpha_ox and the UV luminosity. Many factors can affect this relation, including: enhanced X-ray emission associated with the jets of radio-loud AGNs; X-ray absorption associated with the UV Broad Absorption Line (BAL) outflows; other X-ray absorption not associated with BALs; intrinsic X-ray weakness; UV and X-ray variability, and non-simultaneity of UV and X-ray observations. The separation of these effects provides information about the intrinsic alpha_ox-L_UV relation and its dispersion, constraining models of disk-corona coupling. We extract simultaneous data from the second XMM-Newton serendipitous source catalogue and the XMM-Newton Optical Monitor Serendipitous UV Source Survey Catalog, and derive the single-epoch alpha_ox indices. We use ensemble structure functions to analyse multi-epoch data. We confirm the anticorrelation of alpha_ox with L_UV, and do not find any evidence of a dependence of alpha_ox on z. The dispersion in our simultaneous data (0.12) is not significantly smaller than in previous non-simultaneous studies, suggesting that artificial alpha_ox variability introduced by non-simultaneity is not the main cause of dispersion. Intrinsic alpha_ox variability, i.e., the true variability of the X-ray to optical ratio, is instead important, and accounts for ~30% of the total variance, or more. Inter-source dispersion, due to intrinsic differences in the average alpha_ox values from source to source, is also important. The dispersion introduced by variability is mostly caused by the long timescale variations, which are expected to be driven by the optical variations.
We present a detailed study of the optical spectroscopic properties of 12 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with candidate low-mass black holes (BHs) selected by Kamizasa et al. through rapid X-ray variability. The high-quality, echellette Magellan spectra reveal broad H$alpha$ emission in all the sources, allowing us to estimate robust viral BH masses and Eddington ratios for this unique sample. We confirm that the sample contains low-mass BHs accreting at high rates: the median $M_{rm BH} = 1.2times 10^6M_odot$ and median $L_{rm bol}/L_{rm Edd}=0.44$. The sample follows the $M_{rm BH}-sigma_*$ relation, within the considerable scatter typical of pseudobulges, the probable hosts of these low-mass AGNs. Various lines of evidence suggest that ongoing star formation is prevalent in these systems. We propose a new strategy to estimate star formation rates in AGNs hosted by low-mass, low-metallicity galaxies, based on modification of an existing method using the strength of [O II] $lambda 3727$, [O III] $lambda 5007$, and X-rays.
The X-ray spectra of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are complex and vary rapidly in time as seen in recent observations. Magnetic flares above the accretion disk can account for the extreme variability of AGN. They also explain the observed iron Kalpha fluorescence lines. We present radiative transfer modeling of the X-ray reflection due to emission from magnetic flares close to the marginally stable orbit. The hard X-ray primary radiation coming from the flare source illuminates the accretion disk. A Compton reflection/reprocessed component coming from the disk surface is computed for different emission directions. We assume that the density structure remains adjusted to the hydrostatic equilibrium without external illumination because the flare duration is only a quarter-orbit. The model takes into account the variations of the incident radiation across the hot spot underneath the flare source. The integrated spectrum seen by a distant observer is computed for flares at different orbital phases close to the marginally stable orbit of a Schwarzschild black hole and of a maximally rotating Kerr black hole. The calculations include relativistic and Doppler corrections of the spectra using a ray tracing technique. We explore the practical possibilities to map out the azimuthal irradiation pattern of the inner accretion disks and conclude that the next generation of X-ray satellites should reveal this structure from iron Kalpha line profiles and X-ray lightcurves.
The X-ray variability of the Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) has been most often investigated with studies of individual, nearby, sources, and only a few ensemble analyses have been applied to large samples in wide ranges of luminosity and redshift. We want to determine the ensemble variability properties of two serendipitously selected AGN samples extracted from the catalogues of XMM-Newton and Swift, with redshift between ~0.2 and ~4.5, and X-ray luminosities, in the 0.5-4.5 keV band, between ~10^43 erg/s and ~10^46 erg/s. We use the structure function (SF), which operates in the time domain, and allows for an ensemble analysis even when only a few observations are available for individual sources and the power spectral density (PSD) cannot be derived. SF is also more appropriate than fractional variability and excess variance, because such parameters are biased by the duration of the monitoring time interval in the rest-frame, and thus by cosmological time dilation. We find statistically consistent results for the two samples, with the SF described by a power law of the time lag, approximately as SF propto tau^0.1. We do not find evidence of the break in the SF, at variance with the case of lower luminosity AGNs. We confirm a strong anti-correlation of the variability with X-ray luminosity, accompanied by a change of the slope of the SF. We find evidence in support of a weak, intrinsic, average increase of X-ray variability with redshift. The change of amplitude and slope of the SF with X-ray luminosity provides new constraints on both single oscillator models and multiple subunits models of variability.
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