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Abstract X-ray reverberation mapping is a powerful technique for probing the innermost accretion disk, whereas continuum reverberation mapping in the UV, optical, and infrared (UVOIR) reveals reprocessing by the rest of the accretion disk and broad-line region (BLR). We present the time lags of Mrk 817 as a function of temporal frequency measured from 14 months of high-cadence monitoring from Swift and ground-based telescopes, in addition to an XMM-Newton observation, as part of the AGN STORM 2 campaign. The XMM-Newton lags reveal the first detection of a soft lag in this source, consistent with reverberation from the innermost accretion flow. These results mark the first simultaneous measurement of X-ray reverberation and UVOIR disk reprocessing lags—effectively allowing us to map the entire accretion disk surrounding the black hole. Similar to previous continuum reverberation mapping campaigns, the UVOIR time lags arising at low temporal frequencies are longer than those expected from standard disk reprocessing by a factor of 2–3. The lags agree with the anticipated disk reverberation lags when isolating short-timescale variability, namely timescales shorter than the Hβlag. Modeling the lags requires additional reprocessing constrained at a radius consistent with the BLR size scale inferred from contemporaneous Hβ-lag measurements. When we divide the campaign light curves, the UVOIR lags show substantial variations, with longer lags measured when obscuration from an ionized outflow is greatest. We suggest that, when the obscurer is strongest, reprocessing by the BLR elongates the lags most significantly. As the wind weakens, the lags are dominated by shorter accretion disk lags.
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Robotic reverberation mapping of the broad-line radio galaxy 3C 120
ABSTRACT We carried out photometric and spectroscopic observations of the well-studied broad-line radio galaxy 3C 120 with the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) global robotic telescope network from 2016 December to 2018 April as part of the LCO AGN Key Project on Reverberation Mapping of Accretion Flows. Here, we present both spectroscopic and photometric reverberation mapping results. We used the interpolated cross-correlation function to perform multiple-line lag measurements in 3C 120. We find the H γ, He ii λ4686, H β, and He i λ5876 lags of $$\tau _{\text{cen}} = 18.8_{-1.0}^{+1.3}$$, $$2.7_{-0.8}^{+0.7}$$, $$21.2_{-1.0}^{+1.6}$$, and $$16.9_{-1.1}^{+0.9}$$ d, respectively, relative to the V-band continuum. Using the measured lag and rms velocity width of the H β emission line, we determine the mass of the black hole for 3C 120 to be $$M=(6.3^{+0.5}_{-0.3})\times 10^7\, (f/5.5)$$ M⊙. Our black hole mass measurement is consistent with similar previous studies on 3C 120, but with small uncertainties. In addition, velocity-resolved lags in 3C 120 show a symmetric pattern across the H β line, 25 d at line centre decreasing to 17 d in the line wings at ±4000 km s−1. We also investigate the inter-band continuum lags in 3C 120 and find that they are generally consistent with τ ∝ λ4/3 as predicted from a geometrically thin, optically thick accretion disc. From the continuum lags, we measure the best-fitting value τ0 = 3.5 ± 0.2 d at $$\lambda _{\rm 0} = 5477\, \mathring{\rm A}$$. It implies a disc size a factor of 1.6 times larger than prediction from the standard disc model with L/LEdd = 0.4. This is consistent with previous studies in which larger than expected disc sizes were measured.
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- PAR ID:
- 10197673
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume:
- 497
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0035-8711
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 2910 to 2929
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa2171
