A characteristic optical variability time scale in astrophysical accretion disks-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

A characteristic optical variability time scale in astrophysical accretion disks

Published:2021-08-13 Issue:6556 Volume:373 Page:789-792
ISSN:0036-8075
Container-title:Science
language:en
Short-container-title:Science

Author:

Burke Colin J.¹²^ORCID,Shen Yue¹³^ORCID,Blaes Omer⁴^ORCID,Gammie Charles F.¹³⁵⁶^ORCID,Horne Keith⁷,Jiang Yan-Fei⁸^ORCID,Liu Xin¹³^ORCID,McHardy Ian M.⁹^ORCID,Morgan Christopher W.¹⁰^ORCID,Scaringi Simone¹¹^ORCID,Yang Qian¹³

Affiliation:

1. Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

2. Center for AstroPhysical Surveys, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

3. National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

4. Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.

5. Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

6. Illinois Center for Advanced Study of the Universe, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

7. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS, UK.

8. Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute, New York, NY 10010, USA.

9. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.

10. Department of Physics, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD 21402, USA.

11. Department of Physics, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, UK.

Abstract

Variability time scales in active galaxies Active galactic nuclei contain a supermassive black hole (SMBH) surrounded by an accretion disk. As disk material falls toward the SMBH, it heats up enough to emit optical light. Burke et al . investigated how such optical emission varies over time in a sample of 67 active galaxies (see the Perspective by Lira and Arevalo). They observed a characteristic variability in timing that scaled with the SMBH mass. The results elucidate the physical processes within accretion disks and provide a method to estimate SMBH mass from optical variability observations. —KTS

Funder

National Science Foundation

Science and Technology Facilities Council

UK Science and Technology Facilities Council

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Subject

Multidisciplinary

Reference91 articles.

1. Black holes in binary systems. Observational appearance;Shakura N. I.;Astron. Astrophys.,1973

2. Thermal continuum from accretion disks in quasars

3. Fitting improved accretion disk models to the multiwavelength continua of quasars and active galactic nuclei