Continuum reverberation mapping of AGN accretion disks
Abstract
We show recent detections of inter-band continuum lags in three AGN (NGC 5548, NGC 2617, and MCG+08-11-011), which provide new constraints on the temperature profiles and absolute sizes of the accretion disks. We find lags larger than would be predicted for standard geometrically thin, optically thick accretion disks by factors of 2.3–3.3. For NGC 5548, the data span UV through optical/near-IR wavelengths, and we are able to discern a steeper temperature profile than the T ~ R−3/4 expected for a standard thin disk. Using a physical model, we are also able to estimate the inclinations of the disks for two objects. These results are similar to those found from gravitational microlensing of strongly lensed quasars, and provide a complementary approach for investigating the accretion disk structure in local, low luminosity AGN.
Citation
M. Fausnaugh , M , M. Peterson , B , Starkey , D , Horne , K & and the AGN STORM Collaboration 2017 , Continuum reverberation mapping of AGN accretion disks . in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences . vol. 4 , 55 , Frontiers Media S. A. , Quasars At All Cosmic Epochs , Padova , Italy , 2/04/17 . https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2017.00055 conference
Publication
Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
Type
Conference item
Rights
© 2017 Fausnaugh, Peterson, Starkey, Horne and the AGN STORM Collaboration. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Description
This work was supported by a Presidential Fellowship awarded to MF buy the Ohio State University. NSF grant AST-1008882 and STScI Grant GO-13330 supported MF and BP. KH acknowledges support from STFC grant ST/M001296/1.Collections
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