Magnetized disk models lower the thermal-viscous instability threshold to Eddington ratios of 0.01-0.03 and yield limit-cycle timescales of months to years, jointly matching observations in five CLAGN only when the inner disk is strongly magnetized.
Changing-Look Quasar Candidates: First Results from Follow-up Spectroscopy of Highly Optically Variable Quasars
4 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.
4
Pith papers citing it
abstract
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) that show strong rest-frame optical/UV variability in their blue continuum and broad line emission are classified as "changing-look" AGN, or at higher luminosities changing look quasars (CLQs). These surprisingly large and sometimes rapid transitions challenge accepted models of quasar physics and duty cycles, offer several new avenues for study of quasar host galaxies, and open a wider interpretation of the cause of differences between broad and narrow line AGN. To better characterize extreme quasar variability, we present follow-up spectroscopy as part of a comprehensive search for CLQs across the full SDSS footprint using spectroscopically confirmed quasars from the SDSS DR7 catalog. Our primary selection requires large-amplitude (|\Delta g|>1 mag, |\Delta r|>0.5 mag) variability over any of the available time baselines probed by the SDSS and Pan-STARRS 1 surveys. We employ photometry from the Catalina Sky Survey to verify variability behavior in CLQ candidates where available, and confirm CLQs using optical spectroscopy from the William Herschel, MMT, Magellan, and Palomar telescopes. For our adopted S/N threshold on variability of broad H\beta emission, we find 17 new CLQs, yielding a confirmation rate of >~ 20%. These candidates are at lower Eddington ratio relative to the overall quasar population which supports a disk-wind model for the broad line region. Based on our sample, the CLQ fraction increases from 10% to roughly half as the continuum flux ratio between repeat spectra at 3420 Angstroms increases from 1.5 to 6. We release a catalog of over 200 highly variable candidates to facilitate future CLQ searches.
years
2026 4verdicts
UNVERDICTED 4representative citing papers
Self-consistent spherical accretion simulations show cooling-enhanced growth of PBHs with radiative efficiency ~10^{-2} in the bremsstrahlung regime, yielding a critical seed mass of ~10^{-16} M_sun to consume a solar-mass star in a Hubble time.
Presents a public spectroscopic atlas of 887 Southern broad-line AGNs at low redshift, including continuum decompositions and emission-line fits.
Overview chapter summarizing traditional orientation-based and radiation-regulated unification models for AGN, including evolutionary aspects and changing-look AGN.
citing papers explorer
-
A magnetically-supported disk-corona model for Changing-Look AGN transitions
Magnetized disk models lower the thermal-viscous instability threshold to Eddington ratios of 0.01-0.03 and yield limit-cycle timescales of months to years, jointly matching observations in five CLAGN only when the inner disk is strongly magnetized.
-
Accretion of Primordial Black Holes in Stellar Interiors
Self-consistent spherical accretion simulations show cooling-enhanced growth of PBHs with radiative efficiency ~10^{-2} in the bremsstrahlung regime, yielding a critical seed mass of ~10^{-16} M_sun to consume a solar-mass star in a Hubble time.
-
OzSSy1: The Australian Southern Seyfert-1 Spectroscopic Atlas and Catalogue at z < 0.1
Presents a public spectroscopic atlas of 887 Southern broad-line AGNs at low redshift, including continuum decompositions and emission-line fits.
-
Unification models of Active Galactic Nuclei
Overview chapter summarizing traditional orientation-based and radiation-regulated unification models for AGN, including evolutionary aspects and changing-look AGN.