Supermassive black holes with high accretion rates in active galactic nuclei: X. Optical variability characteristics

Abstract

We compiled a sample of 73 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with reverberation mapping (RM) observations from RM campaigns including our ongoing campaign of monitoring super-Eddington accreting massive black holes (SEAMBHs). This sample covers a large range of black hole (BH) mass $(M_{\bullet }=10^{6-9}{M}_{\odot })$, dimensionless accretion rates $(\dot{\mathcal{M}}=10^{-2.7}-10^{2.7})$ and 5100~Å~luminosity $(L_{5100}=10^{42-46}\mathrm{erg}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1})$, allowing us to systematically study the AGN variability and their relations with BH mass, accretion rates, and optical luminosity. We employed the damped random walk (DRW) model to delineate the optical variability of continuum at 5100~Å~and obtained damped variability timescale (${\tau }_{\mathrm{d}}$) and amplitude (${\sigma }_{\mathrm{d}}$) using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method. We also estimated the traditional variability amplitudes ($F_{\mathrm{var}}$), which provide a model-independent measure and therefore are used to test the DRW results. We found that AGN variability characteristics are generally correlated with $(M_{\bullet },\dot{\mathcal{M}},L_{5100})$. These correlations are smooth from sub-Eddington to super-Eddington accretion AGNs, probably implying that the AGN variability may be caused by the same physical mechanism.

13 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, after ApJ proof

References in corpus (22)

• A Catalog of Quasar Properties from SDSS DR7
• Some Aspects of Measurement Error in Linear Regression of Astronomical Data
• Modeling the Time Variability of SDSS Stripe 82 Quasars as a Damped Random Walk
• Is Quasar Optical Variability a Damped Random Walk?
• Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. IV. H$\beta$ Time Lags and Implications for Super-Eddington Accretion
• A Reverberation-Based Mass for the Central Black Hole in NGC 4151
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: Technical Overview
• Are the Variability Properties of the Kepler AGN Light Curves Consistent with a Damped Random Walk?
• Supermassive black holes with high accretion rates in active galactic nuclei: II. the most luminous standard candles in the Universe
• On the variability of quasars: a link between Eddington ratio and optical variability?
• The Mass of the Black Hole in the Seyfert 1 Galaxy NGC 4593 from Reverberation Mapping
• Space Telescope and Optical Reverberation Mapping Project. V. Optical Spectroscopic Campaign and Emission-Line Analysis for NGC 5548
• A Revised Broad-Line Region Radius and Black Hole Mass for the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 NGC 4051
• Supermassive Black Holes with High Accretion Rates in Active Galactic Nuclei. III. Detection of Fe II Reverberation in Nine Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies
• Limitations on the recovery of the true AGN variability parameters using Damped Random Walk modeling
• Quasar Selection Based on Photometric Variability
• The dependence of quasar variability on black hole mass
• Reverberation Mapping of the Broad-line Region in NGC 5548: Evidence for Radiation Pressure?
• Optical Variability of Narrow and Broad line Seyfert 1 galaxies
• The Mass of the Central Black Hole in the Nearby Seyfert Galaxy NGC5273
• A Reverberation-Based Black Hole Mass for MCG-06-30-15
• A Low-Mass Black Hole in the Nearby Seyfert Galaxy UGC 06728

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Supermassive Black Hole and Broad-line Region in NGC~5548: Results from Five-season Reverberation Mapping
• Fundamental X-ray Corona Parameters of Swift/BAT AGN
• The LSST era of supermassive black holes accretion-disk reverberation mapping
• Mid-infrared Variability of gamma-ray emitting blazars
• Estimation of the size and structure of the broad line region using Bayesian approach
• Probing the disc-jet coupling in S4 0954+65, PKS 0903-57, & 4C +01.02 with $\gamma$-rays
• The variability of the broad-line Balmer decrement for quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping
• The Variability of the Narrow-line Seyfert 1 Galaxies from the PanSTARRS's View
• X-HESS: a large sample of highly accreting serendipitous AGN under the XMM-Newton microscope