Quasar cartography: From black hole to broad-line region scales
- Department of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905 (Israel)
- Department of Geophysical, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978 (Israel)
A generalized approach to reverberation mapping (RM) is presented, which is applicable to broad- and narrowband photometric data, as well as to spectroscopic observations. It is based on multivariate correlation analysis techniques and, in its present implementation, is able to identify reverberating signals across the accretion disk and the broad-line region (BLR) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Statistical tests are defined to assess the significance of time-delay measurements using this approach, and the limitations of the adopted formalism are discussed. It is shown how additional constraints on some of the parameters of the problem may be incorporated into the analysis thereby leading to improved results. When applied to a sample of 14 Seyfert 1 galaxies having good-quality high-cadence photometric data, accretion disk scales and BLR sizes are simultaneously determined, on a case-by-case basis, in most objects. The BLR scales deduced here are in good agreement with the findings of independent spectroscopic RM campaigns. Implications for the photometric RM of AGN interiors in the era of large surveys are discussed.
- OSTI ID:
- 22342055
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 769, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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