skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Title: Active Galactic Nucleus Variability in the Age of Rubin
Abstract Over the next 10 years, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory (Rubin) will observe ∼10 million active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with a regular and high cadence. During this time, the intensities of most of these AGNs will fluctuate stochastically. Here, we explore the prospects to quantify precisely these fluctuations with Rubin measurements of AGN light curves. To do so, we suppose that each light curve is described by a damped random walk with a given fluctuation amplitude and correlation time. Theoretical arguments and some current measurements suggest that the correlation timescale and fluctuation amplitude for each AGN may be correlated with other observables. We use an expected-information analysis to calculate the precision with which these parameters will be inferred from the measured light curves. We find that the measurements will be so precise as to allow the AGNs to be separated into up to ∼10 different correlation-timescale bins. We then show that if the correlation time varies as some power of the luminosity, the normalization and power-law index of that relation will be determined to ( 10 4 % ) . These results suggest that with Rubin, precisely measured variability parameters will take their place alongside spectroscopy in the detailed characterization of individual AGNs and in the study of AGN population statistics. Analogous analyses will be enabled by other time-domain projects, such as CMB-S4.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2112699
PAR ID:
10385042
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Publisher / Repository:
DOI PREFIX: 10.3847
Date Published:
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal
Volume:
941
Issue:
1
ISSN:
0004-637X
Format(s):
Medium: X Size: Article No. 41
Size(s):
Article No. 41
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract We combine our dynamical modeling black-hole mass measurements from the Lick AGN Monitoring Project 2016 sample with measured cross-correlation time lags and line widths to recover individual scale factors,f, used in traditional reverberation-mapping analyses. We extend our sample by including prior results from Code for AGN Reverberation and Modeling of Emission Lines (caramel) studies that have utilized our methods. Aiming to improve the precision of black-hole mass estimates, as well as uncover any regularities in the behavior of the broad-line region (BLR), we search for correlations betweenfand other AGN/BLR parameters. We find (i) evidence for a correlation between the virial coefficient log 10 ( f mean , σ ) and black-hole mass, (ii) marginal evidence for a similar correlation between log 10 ( f rms , σ ) and black-hole mass, (iii) marginal evidence for an anticorrelation of BLR disk thickness with log 10 ( f mean , FWHM ) and log 10 ( f rms , FWHM ) , and (iv) marginal evidence for an anticorrelation of inclination angle with log 10 ( f mean , FWHM ) , log 10 ( f rms , σ ) , and log 10 ( f mean , σ ) . Last, we find marginal evidence for a correlation between line-profile shape, when using the root-mean-square spectrum, log 10 ( FWHM / σ ) rms , and the virial coefficient, log 10 ( f rms , σ ) , and investigate how BLR properties might be related to line-profile shape usingcaramelmodels. 
    more » « less
  2. Abstract A test of lepton flavor universality in B ± K ± μ + μ and B ± K ± e + e decays, as well as a measurement of differential and integrated branching fractions of a nonresonant B ± K ± μ + μ decay are presented. The analysis is made possible by a dedicated data set of proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV recorded in 2018, by the CMS experiment at the LHC, using a special high-rate data stream designed for collecting about 10 billion unbiased b hadron decays. The ratio of the branching fractions B ( B ± K ± μ + μ ) to B ( B ± K ± e + e ) is determined from the measured double ratio R ( K ) of these decays to the respective branching fractions of the B ± J / ψ K ± with J / ψ μ + μ and e + e decays, which allow for significant cancellation of systematic uncertainties. The ratio R ( K ) is measured in the range 1.1 < q 2 < 6.0 GeV 2 , whereqis the invariant mass of the lepton pair, and is found to be R ( K ) = 0.78 0.23 + 0.47 , in agreement with the standard model expectation R ( K ) 1 . This measurement is limited by the statistical precision of the electron channel. The integrated branching fraction in the sameq2range, B ( B ± K ± μ + μ ) = ( 12.42 ± 0.68 ) × 10 8 , is consistent with the present world-average value and has a comparable precision. 
    more » « less
  3. Abstract Polyatomic molecules have been identified as sensitive probes of charge-parity violating and parity violating physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). For example, many linear triatomic molecules are both laser-coolable and have parity doublets in the ground electronic X ˜ 2 Σ + ( 010 ) state arising from the bending vibration, both features that can greatly aid BSM searches. Understanding the X ˜ 2 Σ + ( 010 ) state is a crucial prerequisite to precision measurements with linear polyatomic molecules. Here, we characterize the fundamental bending vibration of 174 YbOH using high-resolution optical spectroscopy on the nominally forbidden X ˜ 2 Σ + ( 010 ) A ˜ 2 Π 1 / 2 ( 000 ) transition at 588 nm. We assign 39 transitions originating from the lowest rotational levels of the X ˜ 2 Σ + ( 010 ) state, and accurately model the state’s structure with an effective Hamiltonian using best-fit parameters. Additionally, we perform Stark and Zeeman spectroscopy on the X ˜ 2 Σ + ( 010 ) state and fit the molecule-frame dipole moment to D m o l = 2.16 ( 1 ) Dand the effective electrong-factor to g S = 2.07 ( 2 ) . Further, we use an empirical model to explain observed anomalous line intensities in terms of interference from spin–orbit and vibronic perturbations in the excited A ˜ 2 Π 1 / 2 ( 000 ) state. Our work is an essential step toward searches for BSM physics in YbOH and other linear polyatomic molecules. 
    more » « less
  4. Abstract Spin-flip (SF) methods applied to excited-state approaches like the Bethe–Salpeter equation allow access to the excitation energies of open-shell systems, such as molecules and defects in solids. The eigenstates of these solutions, however, are generally not eigenstates of the spin operator S ^ 2 . Even for simple cases where the excitation vector is expected to be, for example, a triplet state, the value of S ^ 2 may be found to differ from 2.00; this difference is called ‘spin contamination’. The expectation values S ^ 2 must be computed for each excitation vector, to assist with the characterization of the particular excitation and to determine the amount of spin contamination of the state. Our aim is to provide for the first time in the SF methods literature a comprehensive resource on the derivation of the formulas for S ^ 2 as well as its computational implementation. After a brief discussion of the theory of the SF Bethe–Salpeter equation (BSE) and some examples further illustrating the need for calculating S ^ 2 , we present the derivation for the general equation for computing S ^ 2 with the eigenvectors from an SF-BSE calculation, how it is implemented in a Python script, and timing information on how this calculation scales with the size of the SF-BSE Hamiltonian. 
    more » « less
  5. Building on Mazur’s 1978 work on prime degree isogenies, Kenku determined in 1981 all possible cyclic isogenies of elliptic curves over Q \mathbb {Q} . Although more than 40 years have passed, the determination of cyclic isogenies of elliptic curves over a single other number field has hitherto not been realised. In this paper we develop a procedure to assist in establishing such a determination for a given quadratic field. Executing this procedure on all quadratic fields Q ( d ) \mathbb {Q}(\sqrt {d}) with | d | > 10 4 |d| > 10^4 we obtain, conditional on the Generalised Riemann Hypothesis, the determination of cyclic isogenies of elliptic curves over 19 19 quadratic fields, including Q ( 213 ) \mathbb {Q}(\sqrt {213}) and Q ( −<#comment/> 2289 ) \mathbb {Q}(\sqrt {-2289}) . To make this procedure work, we determine all of the finitely many quadratic points on the modular curves X 0 ( 125 ) X_0(125) and X 0 ( 169 ) X_0(169) , which may be of independent interest. 
    more » « less