Continuum Reverberation Mapping of Mrk 876 over Three Years with Remote Robotic Observatories
Continuum reverberation mapping probes the size scale of the optical continuum-emitting region in active galactic nuclei (AGN). Through 3 yr of multiwavelength photometric monitoring in the optical with robotic observatories, we perform continuum reverberation mapping on Mrk 876. All wave bands show...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ace342 |
| _version_ | 1827828288314146816 |
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| author | Jake A. Miller Edward M. Cackett Michael R. Goad Keith Horne Aaron J. Barth Encarni Romero-Colmenero Michael Fausnaugh Jonathan Gelbord Kirk T. Korista Hermine Landt Tommaso Treu Hartmut Winkler |
| author_facet | Jake A. Miller Edward M. Cackett Michael R. Goad Keith Horne Aaron J. Barth Encarni Romero-Colmenero Michael Fausnaugh Jonathan Gelbord Kirk T. Korista Hermine Landt Tommaso Treu Hartmut Winkler |
| author_sort | Jake A. Miller |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Continuum reverberation mapping probes the size scale of the optical continuum-emitting region in active galactic nuclei (AGN). Through 3 yr of multiwavelength photometric monitoring in the optical with robotic observatories, we perform continuum reverberation mapping on Mrk 876. All wave bands show large-amplitude variability and are well correlated. Slow variations in the light curves broaden the cross-correlation function (CCF) significantly, requiring detrending in order to robustly recover interband lags. We measure consistent interband lags using three techniques (CCF, JAVELIN, and PyROA), with a lag of around 13 days from u to z . These lags are longer than the expected radius of 12 days for the self-gravitating radius of the disk. The lags increase with wavelength roughly following λ ^4/3 , as would be expected from thin disk theory, but the lag normalization is approximately a factor of 3 longer than expected, as has also been observed in other AGN. The lag in the i band shows an excess that we attribute to variable H α broad-line emission. A flux–flux analysis shows a variable spectrum that follows f _ν ∝ λ ^−1/3 , as expected for a disk, and an excess in the i band that also points to strong variable H α emission in that band. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:48:52Z |
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| id | doaj.art-d27f915f3f4047e1a003a3f7a82692a7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:48:52Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-d27f915f3f4047e1a003a3f7a82692a72023-09-03T12:35:55ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572023-01-01953213710.3847/1538-4357/ace342Continuum Reverberation Mapping of Mrk 876 over Three Years with Remote Robotic ObservatoriesJake A. Miller0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8475-8027Edward M. Cackett1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8294-9281Michael R. Goad2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2908-7360Keith Horne3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1728-0304Aaron J. Barth4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3026-0562Encarni Romero-Colmenero5https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0607-1136Michael Fausnaugh6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9113-7162Jonathan Gelbord7https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9092-8619Kirk T. Korista8https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0944-1008Hermine Landt9https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8391-6900Tommaso Treu10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8460-0390Hartmut Winkler11https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2662-0526Wayne State University , Department of Physics & Astronomy, 666 W Hancock St, Detroit, MI 48201, USAWayne State University , Department of Physics & Astronomy, 666 W Hancock St, Detroit, MI 48201, USASchool of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester , University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UKSUPA Physics and Astronomy, University of St . Andrews, Fife, KY16 9SS Scotland, UKDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, 4129 Frederick Reines Hall, University of California , Irvine, CA 92697-4575, USASouth African Astronomical Observatory , P.O. Box 9, Observatory 7935, Cape Town, South Africa; Southern African Large Telescope Foundation , P.O. Box 9, Observatory 7935, Cape Town, South AfricaDepartment of Astronomy, The Ohio State University , 140 W 18th Ave, Columbus, OH 43210, USASpectral Sciences Inc ., 4 Fourth Avenue, Burlington, MA 01803, USADepartment of Physics, Western Michigan University , 1120 Everett Tower, Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5252, USACentre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Department of Physics, Durham University , South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UKDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of California , Los Angeles, CA 90095, USADepartment of Physics, University of Johannesburg , P.O. Box 524, 2006 Auckland Park, South AfricaContinuum reverberation mapping probes the size scale of the optical continuum-emitting region in active galactic nuclei (AGN). Through 3 yr of multiwavelength photometric monitoring in the optical with robotic observatories, we perform continuum reverberation mapping on Mrk 876. All wave bands show large-amplitude variability and are well correlated. Slow variations in the light curves broaden the cross-correlation function (CCF) significantly, requiring detrending in order to robustly recover interband lags. We measure consistent interband lags using three techniques (CCF, JAVELIN, and PyROA), with a lag of around 13 days from u to z . These lags are longer than the expected radius of 12 days for the self-gravitating radius of the disk. The lags increase with wavelength roughly following λ ^4/3 , as would be expected from thin disk theory, but the lag normalization is approximately a factor of 3 longer than expected, as has also been observed in other AGN. The lag in the i band shows an excess that we attribute to variable H α broad-line emission. A flux–flux analysis shows a variable spectrum that follows f _ν ∝ λ ^−1/3 , as expected for a disk, and an excess in the i band that also points to strong variable H α emission in that band.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ace342Active galactic nucleiSupermassive black holesReverberation mapping |
| spellingShingle | Jake A. Miller Edward M. Cackett Michael R. Goad Keith Horne Aaron J. Barth Encarni Romero-Colmenero Michael Fausnaugh Jonathan Gelbord Kirk T. Korista Hermine Landt Tommaso Treu Hartmut Winkler Continuum Reverberation Mapping of Mrk 876 over Three Years with Remote Robotic Observatories The Astrophysical Journal Active galactic nuclei Supermassive black holes Reverberation mapping |
| title | Continuum Reverberation Mapping of Mrk 876 over Three Years with Remote Robotic Observatories |
| title_full | Continuum Reverberation Mapping of Mrk 876 over Three Years with Remote Robotic Observatories |
| title_fullStr | Continuum Reverberation Mapping of Mrk 876 over Three Years with Remote Robotic Observatories |
| title_full_unstemmed | Continuum Reverberation Mapping of Mrk 876 over Three Years with Remote Robotic Observatories |
| title_short | Continuum Reverberation Mapping of Mrk 876 over Three Years with Remote Robotic Observatories |
| title_sort | continuum reverberation mapping of mrk 876 over three years with remote robotic observatories |
| topic | Active galactic nuclei Supermassive black holes Reverberation mapping |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ace342 |
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