X-Ray Variability of SDSS Quasars Based on the SRG/eROSITA All-Sky Survey

Abstract

We examine the long-term (rest-frame time scales from a few months to $\sim 20$ years) X-ray variability of a sample of 2344 X-ray bright quasars from the SDSS DR14Q Catalogue, based on the data of the SRG/eROSITA All-Sky Survey complemented for $\sim 7$% of the sample by archival data from the XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source Catalogue. We characterise variability by a structure function, $S{F}^2(\Delta t)$. We confirm the previously known anti-correlation of the X-ray variability amplitude with luminosity. We also study the dependence of X-ray variability on black hole mass, $M_{\mathrm{BH}}$, and on an X-ray based proxy of the Eddington ratio, ${\lambda }_{\mathrm{X}}$. Less massive black holes prove to be more variable for given Eddington ratio and time scale. X-ray variability also grows with decreasing Eddington ratio and becomes particularly strong at ${\lambda }_{\mathrm{X}}$ of less than a few per cent. We confirm that the X-ray variability amplitude increases with increasing time scale. The $S{F}^2(\Delta t)$ dependence can be satisfactorily described by a power law, with the slope ranging from $\sim 0$ to $\sim 0.4$ for different ($M_{\mathrm{BH}}$, ${\lambda }_{\mathrm{X}}$) subsamples (except for the subsample with the lowest black hole mass and lowest Eddington ratio, where it is equal to $1.1\pm 0.4$)

Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 19 pages, 5 tables, 15 figures