Evidence for an Optical Low-frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillation in the Kepler Light Curve of an Active Galaxy

Abstract

We report evidence for a quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) in the optical light curve of KIC 9650712, a narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy in the original Kepler field. After the development and application of a pipeline for Kepler data specific to active galactic nuclei (AGN), one of our sample of 21 AGN selected by infrared photometry and X-ray flux demonstrates a peak in the power spectrum at log $\nu$ = -6.58 Hz, corresponding to a temporal period of t=44 days. We note that although the power spectrum is well-fit by a model consisting of a Lorentzian and a single power law, alternative continuum models cannot be ruled out. From optical spectroscopy, we measure the black hole mass of this AGN as log $M_{\mathrm{BH}}/M_{\odot }$ = 8.17. We find that this frequency lies along a correlation between low-frequency QPOs and black hole mass from stellar and intermediate mass black holes to AGN, similar to the known correlation in high-frequency QPOs.

arXiv comment6 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for Publication in ApJ Letters

References in corpus (45)

• X-ray Properties of Black-Hole Binaries
• Determining Central Black Hole Masses in Distant Active Galaxies and Quasars. II. Improved Optical and UV Scaling Relationships
• General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of Magnetically Choked Accretion Flows around Black Holes
• Piecing Together the X-ray Background: Bolometric Corrections for Active Galactic Nuclei
• Low frequency QPO spectra and Lense-Thirring precession
• Measuring the broadband power spectra of active galactic nuclei with RXTE
• Correlations in the QPO Frequencies of Low Mass X-Ray Binaries and the Relativistic Precession Model
• False periodicities in quasar time-domain surveys
• Discovery of X-ray QPOs from an Ultra-luminous X-ray Source in M82: Evidence Against Beaming
• X-ray variability of 104 active galactic nuclei. XMM-Newton power-spectrum density profiles
• A 400 solar mass black hole in the Ultraluminous X-ray source M82 X-1 accreting close to its Eddington limit
• A study of the low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in the X-ray light curves of the black hole candidate XTE J1859+226
• Estimating Black Hole Masses in Active Galactic Nuclei Using the MgII 2800 Emission Line
• 'Stable' QPOs and Black Hole Properties from Diskoseismology
• The Lick AGN Monitoring Project: Reverberation Mapping of Optical Hydrogen and Helium Recombination Lines
• Correlation among QPO frequencies and Quiescence-state Duration in Black Hole Candidate GRS 1915+105
• The 2003 Outburst of the X-ray Transient H 1743-322: Comparisons with the Black Hole Microquasar XTE J1550-564
• Tracing the power-law component in the energy spectrum of black hole candidates as a function of the QPO frequency
• Spectral Index and Quasi-Periodic Oscillation Frequency Correlation in Black Hole (BH) Sources: Observational Evidence of Two Phases and Phase Transition in BHs
• The Kepler Light Curves of AGN: A Detailed Analysis
• Quasi periodic oscillations in black hole binaries
• Black hole spin measurements through the relativistic precession model: XTE J1550-564
• Low Luminosity States of the Black Hole Candidate GX~339--4. II. Timing Analysis
• A 200-s Quasi-Periodicity Following the Tidal Disruption of a Star by a Dormant Black Hole
• Measuring mass and angular momentum of black holes with high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations
• Black Hole Mass of the Ultraluminous X-ray source M82 X-1
• The importance of discovering a 3:2 twin-peak QPO in a ULX or how to solve the puzzle of intermediate mass black holes
• Evidence for an Intermediate Mass Black Hole in NGC 5408 X-1
• Reliable Identifications of AGN from the WISE, 2MASS and Rosat all-sky surveys
• Discovery of a ~2 hr high frequency X-ray QPO and iron K alpha reverberation in the active galaxy MS 2254.9-3712
• A ~3.8 hour Periodicity from an Ultrasoft Active Galactic Nucleus Candidate
• The Curious Case of Elemental Abundance Differences in the Dual Hot Jupiter Hosts WASP-94AB
• Detection of a possible X-ray Quasi-periodic Oscillation in the Active Galactic Nucleus 1H~0707-495
• Detection of a QPO in 5 XMM-Newton observations of RE J1034+396
• The Global-Normal Disk Oscillations and the Persistent Low Frequency QPO in X-ray Binaries
• Is M82 X-1 Really An Intermediate-Mass Black Hole? X-ray Spectral and Timing Evidence
• Weighing the black holes in ultraluminous X-ray sources through timing
• The Low-mass, Highly Accreting Black Hole Associated with the Active Galactic Nucleus 2XMM J123103.2+110648
• Universal scaling of the 3:2 twin-peak quasi-periodic oscillation frequencies with black hole mass and spin revisited
• An X-ray periodicity of $\sim$1.8 hours in a narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 766
• Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies
• A Vertical Resonances of G-Mode Oscillations in Warped Disks and QPOs in Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries
• Timing evidence in determining the accretion state of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 3783
• A magnetic reconnection model for quasi-periodic oscillations in black hole systems
• KSwAGS: A Swift X-ray and UV Survey of the Kepler Field. I

Cited by in corpus (24)

• Supermassive Black Hole Binary Candidates from the Pan-STARRS1 Medium Deep Survey
• Corona-Heated Accretion-disk Reprocessing (CHAR): A Physical Model to Decipher the Melody of AGN UV/optical Twinkling
• AGN Variability Analysis Handbook
• A comprehensive power spectral density analysis of astronomical time series I: the Fermi-LAT gamma-ray light curves of selected blazars
• Multiwaveband Quasi--periodic Oscillation in the Blazar 3C 454.3
• Confrontation of Observation and Theory: High Frequency QPOs in X-ray Binaries, Tidal Disruption Events, and Active Galactic Nuclei
• Radiation Transport Two-Temperature GRMHD Simulations of Warped Accretion Disks
• Toward the unambiguous identification of supermassive binary black holes through Bayesian inference
• A 6.4yr optical quasi-periodic oscillations in SDSS J075217.84+193542.2: a new candidate for central binary black hole system
• Optical Quasi-periodic Oscillations in the TESS light curves of three blazars
• A 3.8yr optical quasi-periodic oscillations in blue quasar SDSS J132144+033055 through combined light curves from CSS and ZTF
• Mass of the active galactic nucleus black hole XMMUJ134736.6+173403
• Complex Variability of Kepler AGN Revealed by Recurrence Analysis
• Properties of a Previously Unidentified Instrumental Signature in $\text{Kepler/K2}$ that was Confused for AGN Variability
• A QPO in Mkn 421 from Archival RXTE Data
• Characterising X-ray variability in light curves with complex sampling patterns: application to the eROSITA south ecliptic pole survey
• Dynamics of charged particles and quasi-periodic oscillations in the vicinity of a distorted, deformed compact object embedded in a uniform magnetic field
• The detection of possible $\gamma$-ray quasi-periodic modulation with $\sim$600 days from the blazar S2 0109+22
• A relativistic orbit model for temporal properties of AGN
• Time Evolution of Mg II in SDSS J2320+0024: Implications for a Subparsec Binary Supermassive Black Hole System
• A QPO in NGC 4945 from Archival RXTE Data
• About 300 days optical quasi-periodic oscillations in the long-term light curves of the blazar PKS 2155-304
• A supermassive black hole under the radar: Repeating X-ray variability in a Seyfert galaxy
• Evolution of a Mode of Oscillation Within Turbulent Accretion Disks