The fast UV variability of the active galactic nucleus in Fairall 9
arXiv:1405.0014 · doi:10.1088/0004-637X/788/1/10
Abstract
We present results from a new optical/UV/X-ray monitoring campaign of the luminous Seyfert galaxy Fairall 9 using the Swift satellite. Using the UV-Optical Telescope (UVOT) on Swift, we find correlated optical/UV variability on all time scales ranging from the sampling time (4-days) to the length of the campaign (2.5 months). In one noteworthy event, the UW2-band flux dips by 20% in 4-days, and then recovers equally quickly; this event is not seen in either the optical or the X-ray bands. We argue that this event provides further evidence that a significant fraction of the UV-emission must be driven by irradiation/reprocessing of emission from the central disk. We also use an archival XMM-Newton observation to examine shorter time scale UV/X-ray variability. We find very rapid (<10 ks) UV flares of small amplitude. We show that, unless this emission is non-thermal, we must be seeing the Wien tail from a compact (<3 light hours), hot (T > K) region. The possible association with X-ray microflares suggests that we may be seeing the UV signatures of direct X-ray flare heating of the innermost disk.
arXiv commentAccepted for publication in ApJ
References in corpus (26)
- Maps of Dust IR Emission for Use in Estimation of Reddening and CMBR Foregrounds
- Central Masses and Broad-Line Region Sizes of Active Galactic Nuclei. II. A Homogeneous Analysis of a Large Reverberation-Mapping Database
- Intrinsic disc emission and the Soft X-ray Excess in AGN
- The Radius-Luminosity Relationship for Active Galactic Nuclei: The Effect of Host-Galaxy Starlight on Luminosity Measurements II. The Full Sample of Reverberation-Mapped AGNs
- A light bending model for the X-ray temporal and spectral properties of accreting black holes
- The Ensemble Photometric Variability of ~25000 Quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
- X-ray Fluctuation Power Spectral Densities of Seyfert 1 Galaxies
- Iron fluorescence from within the innermost stable orbit of black hole accretion disks
- On the Reliability of Cross Correlation Function Lag Determinations in Active Galactic Nuclei
- The UV Continuum of Quasars: Models and SDSS Spectral Slopes
- New constraints on the continuum-emission mechanism of AGN: Intensive monitoring of NGC 7469 in the X-ray and ultraviolet
- Long term optical and X-ray variability of the Seyfert galaxy Markarian 79
- Correlation and time delays of the X-ray and optical emission of the Seyfert Galaxy NGC3783
- An X-Ray View of the Jet-Cycle in the Radio Loud AGN 3C120
- Evidence for Large Temperature Fluctuations in Quasar Accretion Disks From Spectral Variability
- X-ray vs. Optical Variations in the Seyfert 1 Nucleus NGC 3516: A Puzzling Disconnectedness
- The Black Hole Spin and Soft X-ray Excess of the Luminous Seyfert Galaxy Fairall 9
- Special relativistic effects on the strength of the fluorescent K-alpha iron line from black hole accretion disks
- Correlated X-ray/Ultraviolet/Optical variability in the very low mass AGN NGC 4395
- On the Nature of Intrinsic Absorption in Reddened Seyfert 1 Galaxies
- An XMM-Newton view of the `bare' nucleus of Fairall 9
- Ultraviolet and X-ray variability of NGC 4051 over 45 days with XMM-Newton and Swift
- Studying X-ray reprocessing and continuum variability in quasars: PG 1211+143
- Long-term monitoring of PKS0558-504 with Swift: the disc-corona link
- Strong UV and X-ray variability of the Narrow Line Seyfert 1 Galaxy WPVS 007 -- on the nature of the X-ray low state
- X-ray dips in the Seyfert Galaxy Fairall 9: Compton-thick "comets" or a failed radio galaxy?
Cited by in corpus (12)
- Intensive disc-reverberation mapping of Fairall 9: 1st year of Swift & LCO monitoring
- Accretion Disc Time Lag Distributions: Applying CREAM to Simulated AGN Light Curves
- Ultraviolet and X-ray variability of active galactic nuclei with Swift
- Searching for Correlations in Simultaneous X-ray and UV Emission in the Narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy 1H 0707-495
- Super-Eddington QSO RX J0439.6-5311. II. Multi-wavelength Constraints on the Global Structure of the Accretion Flow
- NuSTAR and XMM-Newton Observations of the Hard X-Ray Spectrum of Centaurus A
- The rhythm of Fairall 9 -- I: Observing the spectral variability with XMM-Newton and NuSTAR
- Is there a UV/X-ray connection in IRAS 13224-3809?
- Correlated X-ray/UV/optical variability and the nature of accretion disc in the bare Seyfert 1 galaxy Fairall~9
- Constraints on the temperature inhomogeneity in quasar accretion discs from the ultraviolet-optical spectral variability
- On the UV/optical variation in NGC 5548: new evidence against the reprocessing diagram
- Long term Ultra-Violet Variability of Seyfert galaxies