Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 1992
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992aipc..254..251w&link_type=abstract
In: Testing the AGN paradigm; Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Topical Astrophysics Conference, Univ. of Maryland, College Park, Oc
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
5
Accretion Disks, Active Galactic Nuclei, Astronomical Photometry, Bl Lacertae Objects, Black Holes (Astronomy), Doppler Effect, Charge Coupled Devices, Spectral Bands, Steady State, Variability
Scientific paper
We present models for the optical microvariability that, over the past few years, has been conclusively established to be common in BL Lacs and some other AGN. Our scenario invokes the excess emission produced by flares or 'hot-spots' on the accretion disks around supermassive black holes. Phenomenological models, based on steady-state 'beta-disks' with flares that are assumed to turn on randomly in location and time, have been computed including gravitational and Doppler frequency shifts as well as eclipses; these can match the general features of the optical and ultraviolet observations, such as the power density spectrum. Two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of the evolution of disks subject to nonaxisymmetric perturbations have also been performed. Such disks develop spiral shocks which grow, fragment, and reform on time scales short enough to provide a physical basis for the random hot spots.
Chakrabarti Sandip K.
Mangalam Arun V.
Wiita Paul J.
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