Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21441708w&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #214, #417.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.685
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The Lick AGN Monitoring Project (LAMP) targeted 13 nearby Seyfert 1 galaxies with the goal of measuring their black hole masses using reverberation mapping. The AGNs in the sample were selected to have black holes with masses between 106 and 3*107 solar masses. In order to measure the AGN continuum variability, we obtained broad-band B and V images on most nights from February through May 2008. Having regularly sampled light curves with a daily cadence over the course of a few months not only is useful for obtaining the broad-line reverberation lag and black hole mass, but also allows us to examine the characteristics of the continuum variability. Using the light curve data, we measured variability structure functions and determined the characteristic break timescales. Combining our results with previous results from the literature for higher-mass reverberation-mapped AGNs, we find that the characteristic timescale is strongly correlated with both black hole mass and AGN luminosity. We derive a new relationship between characteristic timescale, black hole mass, and luminosity that fits the properties of Seyfert galaxies and quasars over nearly four orders of magnitude in black hole mass. Such a relationship can provide a new method for estimating black hole masses in Seyfert galaxies and quasars using optical light curves measured from future synoptic variability surveys.
LAMP Collaboration
Walsh Jonelle
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