Extreme quasar X-ray variability Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Timlin J.D.
  2. Brandt W.N.
  3. Zhu S.
  4. Liu H.
  5. Luo B
  6. Ni Q.
  7. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

We analyze 1598 serendipitous Chandra X-ray observations of 462 radio-quiet quasars to constrain the frequency of extreme amplitude X-ray variability that is intrinsic to the quasar corona and innermost accretion flow. The quasars in this investigation are all spectroscopically confirmed, optically bright (m_i_<=20.2), and contain no identifiable broad absorption lines in their optical/ultraviolet spectra. This sample includes quasars spanning z~0.1-4 and probes X-ray variability on timescales of up to ~12 rest-frame years. Variability amplitudes are computed between every epoch of observation for each quasar and are analyzed as a function of timescale and luminosity. The tail-heavy distributions of variability amplitudes at all timescales indicate that extreme X-ray variations are driven by an additional physical mechanism and not just typical random fluctuations of the coronal emission. Similarly, extreme X-ray variations of low-luminosity quasars seem to be driven by an additional physical mechanism, whereas high-luminosity quasars seem more consistent with random fluctuations. The amplitude at which an X-ray variability event can be considered extreme is quantified for different timescales and luminosities. Extreme X-ray variations occur more frequently at long timescales ({DELTA}t>=300-days) than at shorter timescales, and in low-luminosity quasars compared to high-luminosity quasars over a similar timescale. A binomial analysis indicates that extreme intrinsic X-ray variations are rare, with a maximum occurrence rate of <2.4% of observations. Finally, we present X-ray variability and basic optical emission-line properties of three archival quasars that have been newly discovered to exhibit extreme X-ray variability.

Keywords
  1. Active galactic nuclei
  2. Quasars
  3. X-ray sources
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2020MNRAS.498.4033T
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/MNRAS/498/4033
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/MNRAS/498/4033
Document Object Identifer DOI

Access

Web browser access HTML
http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/MNRAS/498/4033
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/MNRAS/498/4033
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/MNRAS/498/4033
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http://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tap
Run SQL-like queries with TAP-enabled clients (e.g., TOPCAT).
IVOA Cone Search SCS
For use with a cone search client (e.g., TOPCAT).
http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/MNRAS/498/4033/appena?
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/MNRAS/498/4033/appena?
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/MNRAS/498/4033/appena?

History

2020-10-02T13:06:21Z
Resource record created
2020-10-02T13:06:21Z
Created
2022-06-23T07:57:00Z
Updated

Contact

Name
CDS support team
Postal Address
CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
E-Mail
cds-question@unistra.fr