Regular optical variability of quasars and nuclei of galaxies as a clue to the nature of their activity

Details Regular optical variability of quasars and nuclei of galaxies as a clue to the nature of their activity Regular optical variability of quasars and nuclei of galaxies as a clue to the nature of their activity

Apr 1977

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1977a%26a....56..163o&link_type=abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 56, no. 1-2, Apr. 1977, p. 163-172.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

25

Galactic Nuclei, Galactic Radiation, Quasars, Active Galaxies, Astronomical Models, Black Holes (Astronomy), Mass Transfer, Seyfert Galaxies, Star Clusters, Stellar Mass Accretion

Scientific paper

Available observational data are reviewed concerning the presence of periodic or quasi-periodic components in the optical variations of several quasars and active galaxies. The data are used to evaluate critically three hypotheses on the nature of the energy source in the nuclei of quasars and active galaxies: a compact star cluster, an accreting supermassive black hole, and an uncollapsed rotating 'magnetoplasmic' body. It is shown that regular nonrandom brightness variations cannot be easily explained by any star-cluster model or by disk accretion onto a supermassive black hole. Properties of a 'hot' supermassive oblique rotator (SOR) are analyzed along with the secular evolution of a SOR and variability of SOR radiation due to rotation, pulsations, or interruption of the mass outflow from the object. It is suggested that periodic brightness variations can be explained naturally by rotation of a SOR while quasi-periodic variations can be accounted for by pulsating mass outflow from such a rotator.

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