Optical Variability of Quasars as a Function of Luminosity and Redshift

Details Optical Variability of Quasars as a Function of Luminosity and Redshift Optical Variability of Quasars as a Function of Luminosity and Redshift

Sep 1987

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1987baas...19.1074g&link_type=abstract

Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 19, p.1074

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Various models of the "central engine" in quasars make different predictions of how the degree of variability and its timescale vary with luminosity. In the past there have been conflicting claims about the luminosity and redshift dependence of quasar variability. We have examined the photographic light curves obtained at the Rosemary Hill Observatory (U. of Florida) and the Royal Greenwich Observatory (Herstmonceux) for over a hundred quasars (both radio-loud and radio-quiet). We demonstrate how the previously-reported redshift dependence is a consequence of time dilation, and find that, after allowance for this, there is no luminosity dependence in the amplitude of variability. High-luminosity quasars are not less variable than their low-luminosity counterparts. This creates major difficulties for some classes of quasar model with discrete accretion events (e.g., gas cloud or disrupted stars being "swallowed" directly).

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