Quasar Variability Measurements With SDSS Repeated Imaging and POSS Data

C.M. Rockosi; D.E. Vanden Berk; D.P. Schneider; D. Schlegel; E.L. Turner; G.R. Knapp; G.T. Richards; J.E. Gunn; M.A. Strauss; M. Juric

Quasar Variability Measurements With SDSS Repeated Imaging and POSS Data

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arxiv astro-ph/0404487 v1 pith:AXLW3CN5 submitted 2004-04-26 astro-ph

Quasar Variability Measurements With SDSS Repeated Imaging and POSS Data

Z Ivezic , R.H. Lupton , M. Juric , S. Anderson , P.B. Hall , G.T. Richards , C.M. Rockosi , D.E. Vanden Berk

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E.L. Turner G.R. Knapp J.E. Gunn D. Schlegel M.A. Strauss D.P. Schneider

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keywords variabilityquasardatasdsstimefunctionimaginglags

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We analyze the properties of quasar variability using repeated SDSS imaging data in five UV-to-far red photometric bands, accurate to 0.02 mag, for 13,000 spectroscopically confirmed quasars. The observed time lags span the range from 3 hours to over 3 years, and constrain the quasar variability for rest-frame time lags of up to two years, and at rest-frame wavelengths from 1000 Ang. to 6000 Ang. We demonstrate that 66,000 SDSS measurements of magnitude differences can be described within the measurement noise by a simple function of only three free parameters. The addition of POSS data constrains the long-term behavior of quasar variability and provides evidence for a turn-over in the structure function. This turn-over indicates that the characteristic time scale for optical variability of quasars is of the order 1 year.

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