Accretion-induced variability links young stellar objects, white dwarfs, and black holes

Abstract

The central engines of disc-accreting stellar-mass black holes appear to be scaled down versions of the supermassive black holes that power active galactic nuclei. However, if the physics of accretion is universal, it should also be possible to extend this scaling to other types of accreting systems, irrespective of accretor mass, size, or type. We examine new observations, obtained with Kepler/K2 and ULTRACAM, regarding accreting white dwarfs and young stellar objects. Every object in the sample displays the same linear correlation between the brightness of the source and its amplitude of variability (rms-flux relation) and obeys the same quantitative scaling relation as stellar-mass black holes and active galactic nuclei. We also show that the most important parameter in this scaling relation is the physical size of the accreting object. This establishes the universality of accretion physics from proto-stars still in the star-forming process to the supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies.

7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; published in Science Advances on 9 Oct 2015

References in corpus (13)

• Modelling the behaviour of accretion flows in X-ray binaries
• Piecing Together the X-ray Background: Bolometric Corrections for Active Galactic Nuclei
• ULTRACAM: an ultra-fast, triple-beam CCD camera for high-speed astrophysics
• The Masses and Spins of Neutron Stars and Stellar-Mass Black Holes
• A Magnetized Jet from a Massive Protostar
• A transient radio jet in an erupting dwarf nova
• The variability plane of accreting compact objects
• Discovery of a ~5 day characteristic timescale in the Kepler power spectrum of Zw 229-15
• Can Ground-based Telescopes Detect The Oxygen 1.27 Micron Absorption Feature as a Biomarker in Exoplanets ?
• Probing the temporal variability of Cygnus X-1 into the soft state
• The rms-flux relation in accreting white dwarfs: another nova-like variable and the first dwarf nova
• Non-Linear Dynamics of Accretion Disks with Stochastic Viscosity
• Sco X-1 revisited with Kepler, MAXI and HERMES: outflows, time-lags and echoes unveiled

Cited by in corpus (60)

• Active Galactic Nuclei: what's in a name?
• Stingray: A Modern Python Library For Spectral Timing
• A characteristic optical variability timescale in astrophysical accretion disks
• The Kepler Light Curves of AGN: A Detailed Analysis
• A dynamic black hole corona in an active galaxy through X-ray reverberation mapping
• Improving Damped Random Walk parameters for SDSS Stripe 82 Quasars with Pan-STARRS1
• Optical Variability of Quasars with 20-Year Photometric Light Curves
• The remarkable X-ray variability of IRAS 13224-3809 I: The variability process
• Detection of a possible X-ray Quasi-periodic Oscillation in the Active Galactic Nucleus 1H~0707-495
• Testing the Propagating Fluctuations Model with a Long, Global Accretion Disk Simulation
• Gamma-ray Flux Distribution and Non-linear behavior of Four LAT Bright AGNs
• Magnetically gated accretion in an accreting 'non-magnetic' white dwarf
• The B & V Light Curves for Recurrent Nova T CrB From 1842--2022, the Unique Pre- and Post-Eruption High-States, the Complex Period Changes, and the Upcoming Eruption in 2025.5$\pm$1.3
• Multi-waveband quasi-periodic oscillations in the light curves of blazar CTA 102 during its 2016-2017 optical outburst
• A Possible $\gamma$-ray Quasi-periodic Oscillation of $\sim$ 314 days in the Blazar OJ 287
• The ZTF Source Classification Project: I. Methods and Infrastructure
• The BlackGEM telescope array I: Overview
• The luminosity dependence of thermally-driven disc winds in low-mass X-ray binaries
• Characterization of the Infrared/X-ray sub-second variability for the black-hole transient GX 339-4
• Dwarf AGNs from Variability for the Origins of Seeds (DAVOS): Intermediate-mass black hole demographics from optical synoptic surveys
• Optical Variability of the Dwarf AGN NGC 4395 from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
• The peculiar dipping events in the disk-bearing young-stellar object EPIC 204278916
• The case for jets in cataclysmic variables
• Cross-spectral modelling of the black hole X-ray binary XTEJ1550-564: challenges to the propagating fluctuations paradigm
• Non-stationary variability in accreting compact objects
• Looking for the underlying cause of black hole X-ray variability in GRMHD simulations
• A Multi-wavelength View of OJ 287 Activity in 2015-2017: Implications of Spectral Changes on Central-engine Models and MeV-GeV Emission Mechanism
• Multiwavelength observations of the extraordinary accretion event AT2021lwx
• ASAS J071404+7004.3 -- a close, bright nova-like cataclysmic variable with gusty winds
• Kepler K2 Observations of the Intermediate Polar FO Aquarii
• Spectroscopic confirmation of high-amplitude eruptive YSOs and dipping giants from the VVV survey
• Discovering the Mass-Scaled Damping Timescale from Microquasars to Blazars
• Identification of 3 cataclysmic variables detected by the ART-XC and eROSITA telescopes aboard SRG during the all-sky X-ray survey
• An observational argument against accretion in magnetars
• Laboratory evidence for asymmetric accretion structure upon slanted matter impact in young stars
• Blazar OJ 287 After First VHE Activity: Tracking the Re-emergence of the HBL like Component in 2020
• Searching for Anomalies in the ZTF Catalog of Periodic Variable Stars
• Investigating the Theory of Propagating Fluctuations with Numerical Models of Stochastic Accretion Discs
• Nonlinear Variability of Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in GX 339-4
• OPTICAM: A triple-camera optical system designed to explore the fastest timescales in Astronomy
• Dwarf AGNs from Variability for the Origins of Seeds (DAVOS): Optical Variability of Broad-line Dwarf AGNs from the Zwicky Transient Facility
• A new 2D stochastic methodology for simulating variable accretion discs: propagating fluctuations and epicyclic motion
• The high energy probability distribution of accretion disc luminosity fluctuations
• Extending the theory of propagating fluctuations: the first fully relativistic treatment and analytical Fourier-Green's functions
• Complex Variability of Kepler AGN Revealed by Recurrence Analysis
• Fourier time lags in the dwarf nova SS Cygni
• X-ray Flux and Spectral Variability of the Blazar OJ 287 with Suzaku
• Searching for Diamagnetic Blob Accretion in the 74 day K2 Observation of V2400 Ophiuchi
• Photometry of some neglected bright cataclysmic variables and candidates
• The turbulent variability of accretion discs observed at high energies
• X-ray polarimetry-timing
• Locating the flickering source in polars
• Outer disc edge: properties of low frequency aperiodic variability in ultracompact interacting binaries
• Gaia20bdk -- a new FUor in Sh 2-301 Star Forming Region
• Laboratory unravelling of matter accretion in young stars
• Circumbinary disc interactions and stochastic dust obscuration in the post-asymptotic-giant-branch binary HD 213985
• Flickers, Bursts, and Dips: Detecting Rapid Variability with the g(2) Autocorrelation Function
• VVV-WIT-13: an eruptive young star with cool molecular features
• Recurrent Instability in LMXB Accretion Disks: How Strange is GRS 1915+105?
• Simultaneous Optical to X-ray Spectra of OJ 287: Insights into X-ray spectral changes and particle spectra