The First Swift Intensive AGN Accretion Disk Reverberation Mapping Survey

Edelson, R.; Gelbord, J.; Cackett, E.; Peterson, B.M.; Horne, K.; Barth, A.J.; Starkey, D.A.; Bentz, M.; Brandt, W.N.; Goad, M.; Joner, M.; Korista, K.; Netzer, H.; Page, K.; Uttley, P.; Vaughan, S.; Breeveld, A.; Cenko, S.B.; Done, C.; Evans, P.; Fausnaugh, M.; Ferland, G.; Gonzalez-Buitrago, D.; Gropp, J.; Grupe, D.; Kaastra, J.; Kennea, J.; Kriss, G.; Mathur, S.; Mehdipour, M.; Mudd, D.; Nousek, J.; Schmidt, T.; Vestergaard, M.; Villforth, C.

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aaf3b4

The First Swift Intensive AGN Accretion Disk Reverberation Mapping Survey

Edelson, R.; Gelbord, J.; Cackett, E.; Peterson, B.M.; Horne, K.; Barth, A.J.; Starkey, D.A.; Bentz, M.; Brandt, W.N.; Goad, M.; Joner, M.; Korista, K.; Netzer, H.; Page, K.; Uttley, P.; Vaughan, S.; Breeveld, A.; Cenko, S.B.; Done, C.; Evans, P.; Fausnaugh, M.; Ferland, G.; Gonzalez-Buitrago, D.; Gropp, J.; Grupe, D.; Kaastra, J.; Kennea, J.; Kriss, G.; Mathur, S.; Mehdipour, M.; Mudd, D.; Nousek, J.; Schmidt, T.; Vestergaard, M.; Villforth, C.

Authors

R. Edelson

J. Gelbord

E. Cackett

B.M. Peterson

K. Horne

A.J. Barth

D.A. Starkey

M. Bentz

W.N. Brandt

M. Goad

M. Joner

K. Korista

H. Netzer

K. Page

P. Uttley

S. Vaughan

A. Breeveld

S.B. Cenko

Professor Christine Done chris.done@durham.ac.uk
Professor

P. Evans

M. Fausnaugh

G. Ferland

D. Gonzalez-Buitrago

J. Gropp

D. Grupe

J. Kaastra

J. Kennea

G. Kriss

S. Mathur

M. Mehdipour

D. Mudd

J. Nousek

T. Schmidt

M. Vestergaard

C. Villforth

Abstract

Swift intensive accretion disk reverberation mapping of four AGN yielded light curves sampled ~200–350 times in 0.3–10 keV X-ray and six UV/optical bands. Uniform reduction and cross-correlation analysis of these data sets yields three main results: (1) The X-ray/UV correlations are much weaker than those within the UV/optical, posing severe problems for the lamp-post reprocessing model in which variations in a central X-ray corona drive and power those in the surrounding accretion disk. (2) The UV/optical interband lags are generally consistent with $\tau \propto {\lambda }^{4/3}$ as predicted by the centrally illuminated thin accretion disk model. While the average interband lags are somewhat larger than predicted, these results alone are not inconsistent with the thin disk model given the large systematic uncertainties involved. (3) The one exception is the U band lags, which are on average a factor of ~2.2 larger than predicted from the surrounding band data and fits. This excess appears to be due to diffuse continuum emission from the broad-line region (BLR). The precise mixing of disk and BLR components cannot be determined from these data alone. The lags in different AGN appear to scale with mass or luminosity. We also find that there are systematic differences between the uncertainties derived by JAVELIN versus more standard lag measurement techniques, with JAVELIN reporting smaller uncertainties by a factor of 2.5 on average. In order to be conservative only standard techniques were used in the analyses reported herein.

Citation

Edelson, R., Gelbord, J., Cackett, E., Peterson, B., Horne, K., Barth, A., …Villforth, C. (2019). The First Swift Intensive AGN Accretion Disk Reverberation Mapping Survey. Astrophysical Journal, 870(2), Article 123. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaf3b4

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Nov 12, 2018
Online Publication Date	Jan 16, 2019
Publication Date	Jan 10, 2019
Deposit Date	Feb 1, 2019
Publicly Available Date	Feb 1, 2019
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Print ISSN	0004-637X
Publisher	American Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	870
Issue	2
Article Number	123
DOI	https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aaf3b4