Interpreting composite disc-plus-BLR emission as a single compact disc systematically overestimates microlensing half-light radii, with the bias set mainly by the BLR flux fraction and the compact-disc emissivity shape.
Intensive disc-reverberation mapping of Fairall 9: 1st year of Swift & LCO monitoring
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abstract
We present results of time-series analysis of the first year of the Fairall 9 intensive disc-reverberation campaign. We used Swift and the Las Cumbres Observatory global telescope network to continuously monitor Fairall 9 from X-rays to near-infrared at a daily to sub-daily cadence. The cross-correlation function between bands provides evidence for a lag spectrum consistent with the $\tau\propto\lambda^{4/3}$ scaling expected for an optically thick, geometrically thin blackbody accretion disc. Decomposing the flux into constant and variable components, the variable component's spectral energy distribution is slightly steeper than the standard accretion disc prediction. We find evidence at the Balmer edge in both the lag and flux spectra for an additional bound-free continuum contribution that may arise from reprocessing in the broad-line region. The inferred driving light curve suggests two distinct components, a rapidly variable ($<4$ days) component arising from X-ray reprocessing, and a more slowly varying ($>100$ days) component with an opposite lag to the reverberation signal.
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astro-ph.GA 1years
2026 1verdicts
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Physically motivated AGN emissivity profiles and their effects on quasar microlensing signatures. 1. Multi-epoch accretion disc size inference
Interpreting composite disc-plus-BLR emission as a single compact disc systematically overestimates microlensing half-light radii, with the bias set mainly by the BLR flux fraction and the compact-disc emissivity shape.