papers

Publications (105)

astro-ph.GA2025

Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. XIV. Long-Duration High-Cadence Reverberation Mapping Results for 11 PG Quasars

Chen Hu, Zhu-Heng Yao, Yong-Jie Chen +20

We report the results of a long-duration high-cadence reverberation mapping campaign of a second batch of 11 PG quasars using the 2.2m telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory. This…

astro-ph.GA2023

Testing Super-Eddington Accretion onto a Supermassive Black Hole: Reverberation Mapping of PG 1119+120

Fergus R. Donnan, Juan V. Hernández Santisteban, Keith Horne +11

We measure the black hole mass and investigate the accretion flow around the local () quasar PG 1119+120. Spectroscopic monitoring with Calar Alto provides H lags and…

astro-ph.GA2024

A Short-lived Rejuvenation during the Decades-long Changing-look Transition in the Nucleus of Mrk 1018

Kai-Xing Lu, Yan-Rong Li, Qingwen Wu +13

Changing-look active galactic nuclei (CL-AGNs), characterized by emerging or disappearing of broad lines accompanied with extreme continuum flux variability, have drawn much attent…

astro-ph.CO2014

A Bayesian Approach to Estimate the Size and Structure of the Broad-line Region in Active Galactic Nuclei Using Reverberation Mapping Data

Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang, Luis C. Ho +2

This is the first paper in a series devoted to systematic study of the size and structure of the broad-line region (BLR) in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) using reverberation mappin…

astro-ph.HE2014

Supermassive black holes with high accretion rates in active galactic nuclei: II. the most luminous standard candles in the Universe

Jian-Min Wang, Pu Du, Chen Hu +7

This is the second in a series of papers reporting on a large reverberation mapping (RM) campaign to measure black hole (BH) mass in high accretion rate active galactic nuclei (AGN…

astro-ph.GA2024

Radial-dependent Responsivity of Broad-line Regions in Active Galactic Nuclei: Observational Consequences for Reverberation Mapping and Black Hole Mass Measurements

Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang

The reverberation mapping (RM) technique has seen wide applications in probing geometry and kinematics of broad-line regions (BLRs) and measuring masses of supermassive black holes…

astro-ph.GA2015

Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. III. Detection of Fe II Reverberation in Nine Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies

Chen Hu, Pu Du, Kai-Xing Lu +8

This is the third in a series of papers reporting on a large reverberation-mapping campaign aimed to study the properties of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with high accretion rates…

astro-ph.GA2016

Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. VI. Velocity-resolved Reverberation Mapping of H Line

Pu Du, Kai-Xing Lu, Chen Hu +9

In the sixth of the series of papers reporting on a large reverberation mapping (RM) campaign of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with high accretion rates, we present velocity-resolv…

astro-ph.GA2017

Failed radiatively Accelerated Dusty Outflow model of the Broad Line Region in Active Galactic Nuclei. I. Analytical solution

B. Czerny, Yan-Rong Li, K. Hryniewicz +6

The physical origin of the Broad Line Region in Active Galactic Nuclei is still unclear despite many years of observational studies. The reason is that the region is unresolved and…

astro-ph.HE2025

A New Interpretation for the Hot Corona in Active Galactic Nuclei

Yu Zhao, Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang

This work attempts to provide a new interpretation for the hot corona in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). A thin parabolic magnetic reconnection layer, anchored at the innermost disk…

astro-ph.HE2021

AGN STORM 2: I. First results: A Change in the Weather of Mrk 817

Erin Kara, Missagh Mehdipour, Gerard A. Kriss +69

We present the first results from the ongoing, intensive, multi-wavelength monitoring program of the luminous Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 817. While this AGN was, in part, selected for it…

astro-ph.GA2020

Evidence for Two Distinct Broad-Line Regions from Reverberation Mapping of PG 0026+129

Chen Hu, Sha-Sha Li, Wei-Jian Guo +17

We report on the results of a new spectroscopic monitoring campaign of the quasar PG 0026+129 at the Calar Alto Observatory 2.2m telescope from July 2017 to February 2020. Signific…

astro-ph.HE2013

Evolution of Warped Accretion Disks in Active Galactic Nuclei. I. Roles of Feeding at the Outer Boundaries

Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang, Cheng Cheng +1

We investigate the alignment processes of spinning black holes and their surrounding warped accretion disks in a frame of two different types of feeding at the outer boundaries. We…

astro-ph.GA2024

Spectroastrometry and Reverberation Mapping (SARM) of Active Galactic Nuclei. I. The H Broad-line Region Structure and Black Hole Mass of Five Quasars

Yan-Rong Li, Chen Hu, Zhu-Heng Yao +18

We conduct a reverberation mapping (RM) campaign to spectroscopically monitor a sample of selected bright active galactic nuclei with large anticipated broad-line region (BLR) size…

astro-ph.GA2024

AGN STORM 2: V. Anomalous Behavior of the CIV Light Curve in Mrk 817

Y. Homayouni, Gerard A. Kriss, Gisella De Rosa +49

An intensive reverberation mapping campaign on the Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk817 using the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) revealed significant vari…

astro-ph.GA2019

Differential Interferometric Signatures of Close Binaries of Supermassive Black Holes in Active Galactic Nuclei

Yu-Yang Songsheng, Jian-Min Wang, Yan-Rong Li +1

In the present paper, we explore opportunities of applying the GRAVITY at the Very Large Telescope Interferometry (VLTI) with unprecedented spatial resolution to identify close bin…

astro-ph.GA2025

Spectroscopic Reverberation Mapping for SARM: The Case of Mrk 1048 and Mrk 618

Shivangi Pandey, Suvendu Rakshit, S. Muneer +14

Robust extragalactic distance measurements are crucial for resolving the persistent discrepancy in the value of the Hubble constant (H)). Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs), through…

cond-mat.mes-hall2014

Equal-Interval Splitting of Quantum Tunneling in Single-Molecule Magnets with Identical Exchange Coupling

Yan-Rong Li, Rui-Yuan Liu, Hai-Qing Liu +1

The equal-interval splitting of quantum tunneling observed in simple-Ising-model systems of Ni (3D) and Mn (2D) single-molecule magnets (SMMs) is reported. The splitting…

astro-ph.CO2012

Cosmological Evolution of Supermassive Black Holes: Mass Functions and Spins

Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang, Luis C. Ho

We derive the mass function of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) over the redshift range 0<z<2, using the latest deep luminosity and mass functions of field galaxies. Applying this…

astro-ph.HE2024

Warped accretion disks and quasars with episodic periodicity of long-term variations

Yue-Chang Peng, Jian-Min Wang, Pu Du +2

It has been found that some quasars are undergoing quasi-periodic variations (most of them with damped amplitudes) in optical bands from long-term monitoring campaigns, but how to…

astro-ph.HE2021

Accretion-modified Stars in Accretion Disks of Active Galactic Nuclei: Gravitational Wave Bursts and Electromagnetic Counterparts from Merging Stellar Black Hole Binaries

Jian-Min Wang, Jun-Rong Liu, Luis C. Ho +2

The recent advanced LIGO/Virgo detections of gravitational waves (GWs) from stellar binary black hole (BBH) mergers, in particular GW190521, which is potentially associated with a…

astro-ph.GA2018

Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. IX 10 New Observations of Reverberation Mapping and Shortened H Lags

Pu Du, Zhi-Xiang Zhang, Kai Wang +10

As one of the series of papers reporting on a large reverberation mapping campaign of super-Eddington accreting massive black holes (SEAMBHs) in active galactic nuclei (AGNs), we p…

astro-ph.GA2025

Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. XV. Reverberation Mapping of Mg II Emission Lines

Hua-Rui Bai, Pu Du, Chen Hu +25

As the 15th paper in a series reporting on a large reverberation mapping (RM) campaign of super-Eddington accreting massive black holes (SEAMBHs) in active galactic nuclei (AGNs),…

astro-ph.GA2025

Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. XII. Reverberation Mapping Results for 15 PG Quasars from a Long-Duration High-Cadence Campaign

Chen Hu, Sha-Sha Li, Sen Yang +15

We present the first results from long-term high-cadence spectroscopic monitoring of 15 PG quasars with relatively strong Fe II emission as a part of a broader reverberation mappin…

astro-ph.HE2009

Constraining spins of supermassive black holes from TeV variability. II. fully general relativistic calculations

Yan-Rong Li, Ye-Fei Yuan, Jian-Min Wang +2

The fast variability of energetic TeV photons from the center of M87 has been detected, offering a new clue to estimate spins of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). We extend the stu…

astro-ph.GA2025

AGN STORM 2. XI. Spectroscopic reverberation mapping of the hot dust in Mrk 817

Hermine Landt, Benjamin D. Boizelle, Michael S. Brotherton +41

The AGN Space Telescope and Optical Reverberation Mapping 2 (STORM 2) campaign targeted Mrk 817 with intensive multi-wavelength monitoring and found its soft X-ray emission to be s…

astro-ph.GA2022

Revisiting the Continuum Reverberation Lags in the AGN PKS 0558-504

D. H. González-Buitrago, J. V. Hernández Santisteban, A. J. Barth +5

We present a revised analysis of the photometric reverberation mapping campaign of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy PKS 0558-504 carried out with the Swift Observatory during 2008-…

astro-ph.GA2025

New theoretical Fe II templates for bright quasars

Ashwani Pandey, Mary Loli Martínez-Aldama, Bożena Czerny +5

We present a set of new theoretical Fe II templates for bright quasars covering a wavelength range of 1000-10000 Ã \, based on the recent atomic database available in the C23.00 ve…

astro-ph.GA2023

Revisiting Emission-Line Measurement Methods for Narrow-Line Active Galactic Nuclei

Viraja C. Khatu, Sarah C. Gallagher, Keith Horne +16

Measuring broad emission-line widths in active galactic nuclei (AGN) is not straightforward owing to the complex nature of flux variability in these systems. Line-width measurement…

astro-ph.GA2022

Monitoring AGNs with H Asymmetry. III. Long-term Reverberation Mapping Results of 15 Palomar-Green Quasars

Dong-Wei Bao, Michael S. Brotherton, Pu Du +42

In this third paper of the series reporting on the reverberation mapping (RM) campaign of active galactic nuclei with asymmetric H emission-line profiles, we present results fo…

astro-ph.IM2018

A New Approach for Measuring Power Spectra and Reconstructing Time Series in Active Galactic Nuclei

Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang

We provide a new approach to measure power spectra and reconstruct time series in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) based on the fact that the Fourier transform of AGN stochastic varia…

cond-mat.mes-hall2014

Spin-Pair Tunneling in Mn Single-Molecule Magnet

Yan-Rong Li, Rui-Yuan Liu, Yun-Ping Wang

We report spin-pair tunneling observed in Mn single-molecule magnet, which is a crystal with 2D network of identical exchange coupling. We observed a series of extra quantum tu…

astro-ph.GA2010

Episodic activities of supermassive black holes at redshift : driven by mergers?

Yan-Rong Li, ; Jian-Min Wang, ; Ye-Fei Yuan +1

It has been suggested for quite a long time that galaxy mergers trigger activities of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) on the grounds of imaging observations of individual galaxies…

astro-ph.GA2016

Improving the Flux Calibration in Reverberation Mapping by Spectral Fitting: Application to the Seyfert Galaxy MCG--6-30-15

Chen Hu, Jian-Min Wang, Luis C. Ho +4

We propose a method for the flux calibration of reverberation mapping spectra based on accurate measurement of [O III] emission by spectral fitting. The method can achieve…

astro-ph.GA2016

Spectroscopic Indication for a Centi-parsec Supermassive Black Hole Binary in the Galactic Center of NGC 5548

Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang, Luis C. Ho +8

As a natural consequence of cosmological hierarchical structure formation, sub-parsec supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) should be common in galaxies but thus far have elude…

astro-ph.GA2022

Supermassive Black Hole and Broad-line Region in NGC~5548: Results from Five-season Reverberation Mapping

Kai-Xing Lu, Jin-Ming Bai, Jian-Min Wang +9

NGC 5548 is one of the active galactic nuclei (AGN) selected for our long-term spectroscopic monitoring with the Lijiang 2.4~m telescope, aiming at investigating the origin and evo…

astro-ph.GA2016

A note on periodicity of long-term variations of optical continuum in active galactic nuclei

Kai-Xing Lu, Yan-Rong Li, Shao-Lan Bi +1

Graham et al. found a sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and quasars from the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey (CRTS) that have long-term periodic variations in optical con…

astro-ph.GA2025

Continuum Reverberation Mapping of Accretion Disks Surrounding Supermassive Black Hole Binaries: Observational Signatures

Yi-Xin Fu, Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang +9

It has remained challenging to reliably identify sub-parsec supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs), despite them being expected to be ubiquitous. We propose a new method using m…

astro-ph.GA2015

Alignments Of Black Holes With Their Warped Accretion Disks And Episodic Lifetimes Of Active Galactic Nuclei

Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang, Cheng Cheng +1

Warped accretion disks have attracted intensive attention because of their critical role on shaping the spin of supermassive massive black holes (SMBHs) through the Bardeen-Petters…

astro-ph.IM2020

Constraints on individual supermassive binary black holes using observations of PSR J1909-3744

Yi Feng, Di Li, Yan-Rong Li +1

We perform a search for gravitational waves (GWs) from several supermassive binary black hole (SMBBH) candidates (NGC 5548, Mrk 231, OJ 287, PG 1302-102, NGC 4151, Ark 120 and 3C 6…

astro-ph.GA2016

Reverberation Mapping of the Broad-line Region in NGC 5548: Evidence for Radiation Pressure?

Kai-Xing Lu, Pu Du, Chen Hu +8

NGC 5548 is the best-observed reverberation-mapped active galactic nucleus with long-term, intensive monitoring. Here we report results from a new observational campaign between Ja…

astro-ph.GA2018

Monitoring AGNs with Hβ Asymmetry. I. First Results: Velocity-resolved Reverberation Mapping

Pu Du, Michael S. Brotherton, Kai Wang +12

We have started a long-term reverberation mapping project using the Wyoming Infrared Observatory 2.3 meter telescope titled "Monitoring AGNs with Hβ Asymmetry" (MAHA). The motivat…

astro-ph.HE2011

A general relativistic external Compton-scattering model for TeV emission from M87

Yu-Dong Cui, Ye-Fei Yuan, Yan-Rong Li +1

M87 is the first detected non-blazar extragalactic Tera-Electron-Volt (TeV) source with rapid variation and very flat spectrum in the TeV band. To explain the two-peaks in the spec…

astro-ph.IM2021

A Pixon-Based Method for Reverberation-mapping Analysis in Active Galactic Nuclei

Yan-Rong Li, Ming Xiao, Jian-Min Wang

We present an alternative method for reconstructing a velocity-delay map in reverberation mapping (RM) based on the pixon algorithm initially proposed for image reconstruction by P…

astro-ph.GA2020

Broad-line Region of the Quasar PG 2130+099 from a Two-Year Reverberation Mapping Campaign with High Cadence

Chen Hu, Yan-Rong Li, Pu Du +12

As one of the most interesting Seyfert 1 galaxies, PG 2130+099 has been the target of several reverberation mapping (RM) campaigns over the years. However, its measured broad H

astro-ph.GA2025

Chemical evolution of bulges of active galactic nuclei in the early Universe: roles of accreting stars

Shuo Zhai, Jian-Min Wang, Yan-Rong Li +2

JWST/NIRCam observations reveal dense stellar cores in high-redshift galactic bulges, indicative of sustained star formation and potential stellar accretion. We introduce accretion…

astro-ph.GA2019

Kinematics of the Broad-line Region of 3C 273 from a Ten-year Reverberation Mapping Campaign

Zhi-Xiang Zhang, Pu Du, Paul S. Smith +9

Despite many decades of study, the kinematics of the broad-line region of 3C~273 are still poorly understood. We report a new, high signal-to-noise, reverberation mapping campaign…

astro-ph.CO2020

A parallax distance to 3C 273 through spectroastrometry and reverberation mapping

Jian-Min Wang, Yu-Yang Songsheng, Yan-Rong Li +2

Distance measurements for extragalactic objects are a fundamental problem in astronomy and cosmology. In the era of precision cosmology, we urgently need better measurements of cos…

astro-ph.HE2014

A New Approach to Constrain Black Hole Spins in Active Galaxies Using Optical Reverberation Mapping

Jian-Min Wang, Pu Du, Yan-Rong Li +3

A tight relation between the size of the broad-line region (BLR) and optical luminosity has been established in about 50 active galactic nuclei studied through reverberation mappin…

astro-ph.GA2025

Changing-look Active Galactic Nuclei from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. IV. Broad Emission Line Evolution Sequence Among Hα, Mg II, and Hβ

Wei-Jian Guo, Victoria A. Fawcett, Małgorzata Siudek +15

From a parent catalog of 561 changing-look active galactic nuclei (CL-AGNs) identified by Guo et al. (2025), we investigate the evolutionary sequence of broad emission lines using…

astro-ph.GA2022

Final stage of merging binaries of supermassive black holes: observational signatures

Jian-Min Wang, Yu-Yang Songsheng, Yan-Rong Li +1

There are increasing interests in binary supermassive black holes (SMBHs), but merging binaries with separations smaller than ~1 light days (~10^2 gravitational radii for 10^8 Msun…

astro-ph.GA2019

Reverberation mapping of narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy I Zwicky 1: black hole mass

Ying-Ke Huang, Chen Hu, Yu-Lin Zhao +11

We report results of the first reverberation mapping campaign of I Zwicky 1 during -, which showed unambiguous reverberations of the broad H line emission to the va…

cond-mat.mes-hall2015

Coexistence and interconvertibility of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases in the single crystal of Mn single-molecule magnet

Yan Cui, Yan-Rong Li, Rui-Yuan Liu +2

We report the coexistence of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases in the single crystal of Mn single-molecule magnet. The coexistent state appears within a certain period…

astro-ph.CO2009

Evolution of gaseous disk viscosity driven by supernova explosion in star-forming galaxies at high redshift

Jian-Min Wang, Chang-Shuo Yan, Yan-Rong Li +5

Motivated by Genzel et al.'s observations of high-redshift star-forming galaxies, containing clumpy and turbulent rings or disks, we build a set of equations describing the dynamic…

astro-ph.HE2023

AGN STORM 2. VI. Mapping Temperature Fluctuations in the Accretion Disk of Mrk 817

Jack M. M. Neustadt, Christopher S. Kochanek, John Montano +49

We fit the UV/optical lightcurves of the Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 817 to produce maps of the accretion disk temperature fluctuations resolved in time and radius. The maps a…

astro-ph.GA2023

AGN STORM 2: II. Ultraviolet Observations of Mrk817 with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope

Y. Homayouni, Gisella De Rosa, Rachel Plesha +62

We present reverberation mapping measurements for the prominent ultraviolet broad emission lines of the active galactic nucleus Mrk817 using 165 spectra obtained with the Cosmic Or…

astro-ph.HE2024

Gleeok's Fire-breathing: Triple Flares of AT 2021aeuk within Five Years from the Active Galaxy SDSS J161259.83+421940.3

Dong-Wei Bao, Wei-Jian Guo, Zhi-Xiang Zhang +12

We present a noteworthy transient AT 2021aeuk exhibiting three distinct optical flares between 2018 and 2023. It is hosted in a radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLSy1) galaxy, wit…

astro-ph.GA2024

Monitoring AGNs with H Asymmetry. IV. First Reverberation Mapping Results of 14 AGNs

T. E. Zastrocky, Michael S. Brotherton, Pu Du +41

We report first-time reverberation mapping results for 14 AGNs from the ongoing Monitoring AGNs with H Asymmetry campaign (MAHA). These results utilize optical spectra obtained…

astro-ph.GA2016

Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. V. A New Size-Luminosity Scaling Relation for the Broad-Line Region

Pu Du, Kai-Xing Lu, Zhi-Xiang Zhang +12

This paper reports results of the third-year campaign of monitoring super-Eddington accreting massive black holes (SEAMBHs) in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) between 2014-2015. Ten…

astro-ph.GA2025

Little red dots as embryos of active galactic nuclei

Jian-Min Wang, Yi-Lin Wang, Yong-Jie Chen +7

As an unprecedented large population in the early universe, the JWST-discovered little red dots (LRDs) have garnered much attention for formation of massive black holes and galaxie…

astro-ph.GA2021

Reverberation Mapping of Two Luminous Quasars: the Broad-line Region Structure and Black Hole Mass

Sha-Sha Li, Sen Yang, Zi-Xu Yang +21

We report the results of a multi-year spectroscopic and photometric monitoring campaign of two luminous quasars, PG~0923+201 and PG~1001+291, both located at the high-luminosity en…

astro-ph.IM2016

A Non-parametric Approach to Constrain the Transfer Function in Reverberation Mapping

Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang, Jin-Ming Bai

Broad emission lines of active galactic nuclei stem from a spatially extended region (broad-line region, BLR) that is composed of discrete clouds and photoionized by the central io…

astro-ph.HE2021

The Variability of the Black-Hole Image in M87 at the Dynamical Time Scale

Kaushik Satapathy, Dimitrios Psaltis, Feryal Ozel +235

The black-hole images obtained with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) are expected to be variable at the dynamical timescale near their horizons. For the black hole at the center o…

gr-qc2020

Gravitational Test Beyond the First Post-Newtonian Order with the Shadow of the M87 Black Hole

Dimitrios Psaltis, Lia Medeiros, Pierre Christian +185

The 2017 Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) observations of the central source in M87 have led to the first measurement of the size of a black-hole shadow. This observation offers a new…

astro-ph.GA2016

The Fundamental Plane of the Broad-line Region in Active Galactic Nuclei

Pu Du, Jian-Min Wang, Chen Hu +3

Broad emission lines in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) mainly arise from gas photoionized by continuum radiation from an accretion disk around a central black hole. The shape of the…

astro-ph.GA2015

Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. IV. H Time Lags and Implications for Super-Eddington Accretion

Pu Du, Chen Hu, Kai-Xing Lu +13

We have completed two years of photometric and spectroscopic monitoring of a large number of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with very high accretion rates. In this paper, we report…

astro-ph.GA2018

Kinematic signatures of reverberation mapping of close binaries of supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei

Jian-Min Wang, Yu-Yang Songsheng, Yan-Rong Li +1

Close binaries of supermassive black holes (CB-SMBHs) with separations of pc as the final stage of galaxy mergers are sources of low frequency gravitational waves (GW…

astro-ph.GA2025

Departures from Standard Disk Predictions in Intensive Ground-Based Monitoring of Three AGN

Diego Gonzalez-Buitrago, Aaron J. Barth, Rick Edelson +42

We present ground-based, multi-band light curves of the AGN Mrk~509, NGC\,4151, and NGC\,4593 obtained contemporaneously with \sw\, monitoring. We measure cross-correlation lags re…

astro-ph.CO2012

Cosmological Evolution of Supermassive Black Holes. II. Evidence for Downsizing of Spin Evolution

Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang, Luis C. Ho

The spin is an important but poorly constrained parameter for describing supermassive black holes (SMBHs). Using the continuity equation of SMBH number density, we explicitly obtai…

astro-ph.GA2017

Tidally disrupted dusty clumps as the origin of broad emission lines in active galactic nuclei

Jian-Min Wang, Pu Du, Michael S. Brotherton +5

Type 1 active galactic nuclei display broad emission lines, regarded as arising from photoionized gas moving in the gravitational potential of a supermassive black hole. The origin…

astro-ph.HE2024

X-ray properties of reverberation-mapped AGNs with super-Eddington accreting massive black holes

Jaya Maithil, Michael S. Brotherton, Ohad Shemmer +7

The X-ray properties of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) depend on their underlying physical parameters, particularly the accretion rate. We identified eight reverberation-mapped AGNs…

astro-ph.GA2023

Long-term optical spectral monitoring of a changing-look active galactic nucleus NGC 3516 -- II. Broad-line profile variability

Luka C. Popović, Dragana Ilić, Alexander Burenkov +10

We analyze the broad H line profile variability of the "changing look" active galactic nucleus (CL-AGN) NGC 3516 over a long period of 25 years. The observed change in the broa…

astro-ph.GA2017

Self-consistent dynamical model of the Broad Line Region

Bozena Czerny, Yan-Rong Li, Justyna Sredzinska +4

We develope a self-consistent description of the Broad Line Region based on the concept of the failed wind powered by the radiation pressure acting on dusty accretion disk atmosphe…

gr-qc2021

Constraints on black-hole charges with the 2017 EHT observations of M87*

Prashant Kocherlakota, Luciano Rezzolla, Heino Falcke +234

Our understanding of strong gravity near supermassive compact objects has recently improved thanks to the measurements made by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). We use here the M8…

astro-ph.GA2020

Monitoring AGNs with Hβ Asymmetry. II. Reverberation Mapping of Three Seyfert Galaxies Historically Displaying Hβ Profiles with Changing Asymmetry: Mrk 79, NGC 3227, and Mrk 841

Michael S. Brotherton, Pu Du, Ming Xiao +17

We report the results of reverberation mapping three bright Seyfert galaxies, Mrk 79, NGC 3227, and Mrk 841, from a campaign conducted from December 2016 to May 2017 with the Wyomi…

astro-ph.GA2022

Spectroastrometry and Reverberation Mapping: the Mass and Geometric Distance of the Supermassive Black Hole in the Quasar 3C 273

Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang, Yu-Yang Songsheng +4

The quasar 3C 273 has been observed with infrared spectroastrometry (SA) on broad Pa line and optical reverberation mapping (RM) on broad H line. SA delivers information ab…

astro-ph.HE2023

AGN STORM 2. IV. Swift X-ray and ultraviolet/optical monitoring of Mrk 817

Edward M. Cackett, Jonathan Gelbord, Aaron J. Barth +48

The AGN STORM 2 campaign is a large, multiwavelength reverberation mapping project designed to trace out the structure of Mrk 817 from the inner accretion disk to the broad emissio…

astro-ph.IM2022

The LSST era of supermassive black holes accretion-disk reverberation mapping

Andjelka B. Kovacevic, Viktor Radovic, Dragana Ilic +22

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will detect an unprecedentedly large sample of actively accreting supermassive black holes with typical accreti…

astro-ph.GA2023

Broad-line region in NGC 4151 monitored by two decades of reverberation mapping campaigns. I. Evolution of structure and kinematics

Yong-Jie Chen, Dong-Wei Bao, Shuo Zhai +33

We report the results of long-term reverberation mapping (RM) campaigns of the nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN) NGC 4151, spanning from 1994 to 2022, based on archived observati…

astro-ph.HE2020

Supermassive black holes with high accretion rates in active galactic nuclei. XI. Accretion disk reverberation mapping of Mrk 142

Edward M. Cackett, Jonathan Gelbord, Yan-Rong Li +15

We performed an intensive accretion disk reverberation mapping campaign on the high accretion rate active galactic nucleus Mrk 142 in early 2019. Mrk 142 was monitored with the Nei…

astro-ph.GA2023

Spectroastrometric Reverberation Mapping of Broad-line Regions

Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang

Spectroastrometry measures source astrometry as a function of wavelength/velocity. Reverberations of spectroastrometric signals naturally arise in broad-line regions (BLRs) of acti…

astro-ph.GA2021

Event Horizon Telescope observations of the jet launching and collimation in Centaurus A

Michael Janssen, Heino Falcke, Matthias Kadler +236

Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations of active galactic nuclei at millimeter wavelengths have the power to reveal the launching and initial collimation region of e…

astro-ph.GA2026

AGN STORM 2. XII. Ground-Based Optical Photometry and Lag Measurements of Mrk 817

John W. Montano, Aaron J. Barth, Keith Horne +40

We present the ground-based imaging campaign and light curves of Markarian 817 as part of the multiwavelength monitoring program AGN STORM\,2. Observations were carried out over 1.…

astro-ph2008

Spins of the supermassive black hole in M87: new constraints from TeV observations

Jian-Min Wang, Yan-Rong Li, Jain-Cheng Li +1

The rapid TeV ray variability detected in the well-known nearby radio galaxy M87 implies an extremely compact emission region (5-10 Schwarzschild radii) near the horizon of th…

astro-ph.GA2019

Active Galactic Nuclei with Ultra-fast Outflows Monitoring Project: The Broad-line Region of Mrk 79 as a Disk Wind

Kai-Xing Lu, Jin-Ming Bai, Zhi-Xiang Zhang +23

We developed a spectroscopic monitoring project to investigate the kinematics of the broad-line region (BLR) in active galactic nuclei (AGN) with ultra-fast outflows (UFOs). Mrk~79…

astro-ph.HE2021

The Polarized Image of a Synchrotron Emitting Ring of Gas Orbiting a Black Hole

Ramesh Narayan, Daniel C. M. Palumbo, Michael D. Johnson +237

Synchrotron radiation from hot gas near a black hole results in a polarized image. The image polarization is determined by effects including the orientation of the magnetic field i…

astro-ph.HE2023

UV/Optical disk reverberation lags despite a faint X-ray corona in the AGN Mrk 335

Erin Kara, Aaron J. Barth, Edward M. Cackett +37

We present the first results from a 100-day Swift, NICER and ground-based X-ray/UV/optical reverberation mapping campaign of the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Mrk 335, when it was in an un…

astro-ph.GA2018

A High-Quality velocity-delay map of the broad-line region in NGC 5548

Ming Xiao, Pu Du, Kai-Xing Lu +10

NGC 5548 has been well spectroscopically monitored for reverberation mapping of the central kinematics by 19 campaigns. Using the maximum entropy method in this Letter, we build up…

astro-ph.HE2019

A Possible ~20 yr Periodicity in Long-term Optical Photometric and Spectral Variations of the Nearby Radio-Quiet Active Galactic Nucleus Ark 120

Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang, Zhi-Xiang Zhang +15

We study the long-term variability in the optical monitoring database of Ark~120, a nearby radio-quiet active galactic nucleus (AGN) at a distance of 143 Mpc (z=0.03271). We compil…

astro-ph.GA2023

Searching for quasar candidates with periodic variations from the Zwicky Transient Facility: results and implications

Yong-Jie Chen, Shuo Zhai, Jun-Rong Liu +7

We conduct a systematic search for quasars with periodic variations from the archival photometric data of the Zwicky Transient Facility by cross-matching with the quasar catalogs o…

astro-ph.IM2021

Search for Continuous Gravitational Wave Signals in Pulsar Timing Residuals: A New Scalable Approach with Diffusive Nested Sampling

Yu-Yang Songsheng, Yi-Qian Qian, Yan-Rong Li +5

Detecting continuous nanohertz gravitational waves (GWs) generated by individual close binaries of supermassive black holes (CB-SMBHs) is one of the primary objectives of pulsar ti…

astro-ph.HE2020

Untangling Optical Emissions of the Jet and Accretion Disk in the Flat-Spectrum Radio Quasar 3C 273 with Reverberation Mapping Data

Yan-Rong Li, Zhi-Xiang Zhang, Chichuan Jin +4

3C 273 is an intensively monitored flat-spectrum radio quasar with both a beamed jet and blue bump together with broad emission lines. The coexistence of the comparably prominent j…

cond-mat.supr-con2008

Phase-Sensitive measurements on the corner junction of iron-based superconductor BaFe1.8Co0.2As2

Yu-Rong Zhou, Yan-Rong Li, Jun-Wei Zuo +6

We have made a phase-sensitive measurement on the corner junction of the iron-based superconductor BaFe1.8Co0.2As2, and observed the typical Fraunhofer-like diffraction pattern. Th…

astro-ph.GA2025

Detection of unexpected leading delays in broad Hβ line reverberations in the quasar PHL 1092

Jian-Min Wang, Chen Hu, Yong-Jie Chen +12

Delayed reverberations of broad emission lines in response to optical continuum variations have been widely observed in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). They serve as a powerful tool…

astro-ph.GA2018

Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. VIII. Structure of the Broad-Line Region and Mass of the Central Black Hole in Mrk 142

Yan-Rong Li, Yu-Yang Songsheng, Jie Qiu +9

This is the eighth in a series of papers reporting on a large reverberation mapping campaign to measure black hole (BH) mass in high accretion rate active galactic nuclei (AGNs). W…

astro-ph.GA2022

Accretion Disk Size Measurements of Active Galactic Nuclei Monitored by the Zwicky Transient Facility

Wei-Jian Guo, Yan-Rong Li, Zhi-Xiang Zhang +2

We compile a sample of 92 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at z<0.75 with photometric light curves from the archival data of the Zwicky Transient Facility and measure the accret…

astro-ph.GA2021

Geometric Distances of Quasars Measured by Spectroastrometry and Reverberation Mapping:Monte Carlo Simulations

Yu-Yang Songsheng, Yan-Rong Li, Pu Du +1

Recently, GRAVITY onboard the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) first spatially resolved the structure of the quasar 3C 273 with an unprecedented resolution of

astro-ph.IM2014

A Bayesian Method for the Intercalibration of Spectra in Reverberation Mapping

Yan-Rong Li, Jian-Min Wang, Chen Hu +2

Flux calibration of spectra in reverberation mapping (RM) is most often performed by assuming the flux constancy of some specified narrow emission lines, which stem from an extende…

astro-ph.GA2024

Broad-line Region of the Quasar PG 2130+099. II. Doubling the Size Over Four Years?

Zhu-Heng Yao, Sen Yang, Wei-Jian Guo +16

Over the past three decades, multiple reverberation mapping (RM) campaigns conducted for the quasar PG 2130+099 have exhibited inconsistent findings with time delays ranging from $…

astro-ph.GA2018

Interpretation of Departure from the Broad Line Region Scaling in Active Galactic Nuclei

Bozena Czerny, Jian-Min Wang, Pu Du +7

Most results of the reverberation monitoring of active galaxies showed a universal scaling of the time delay of the Hbeta emission region with the monochromatic flux at 5100 A, wit…