The Size-luminosity Relation of the AGN Torus Determined from the Comparison between Optical and Mid-infrared Variability
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arXiv
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| Natura: | Preprint |
| Pubblicazione: |
2024
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| _version_ | 1866911914224779264 |
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| author | Kim, Minjin Son, Suyeon Ho, Luis C. |
| author_facet | Kim, Minjin Son, Suyeon Ho, Luis C. |
| contents | We investigate the optical variability of low-redshift ($0.15< z\leq0.4$) active galactic nuclei using the multi-epoch data from the Zwicky Transient Facility. We find that a damped random walk model well describes the ensemble structure function in the $g$ band. Consistent with previous studies, more luminous active galactic nuclei tend to have a steeper structure function at a timescale less than the break timescale and smaller variability amplitude. By comparing the structure functions in the optical with the mid-infrared obtained from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, we derive the size of the dusty torus using a toy model for the geometry of the torus. The size of the torus positively correlates with the luminosity of the active nucleus, following a relation that agrees well with previous studies based on reverberation mapping. This result demonstrates that the structure function method can be used as a powerful and highly efficient tool to examine the size of the torus. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_07863 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | The Size-luminosity Relation of the AGN Torus Determined from the Comparison between Optical and Mid-infrared Variability Kim, Minjin Son, Suyeon Ho, Luis C. Astrophysics of Galaxies We investigate the optical variability of low-redshift ($0.15< z\leq0.4$) active galactic nuclei using the multi-epoch data from the Zwicky Transient Facility. We find that a damped random walk model well describes the ensemble structure function in the $g$ band. Consistent with previous studies, more luminous active galactic nuclei tend to have a steeper structure function at a timescale less than the break timescale and smaller variability amplitude. By comparing the structure functions in the optical with the mid-infrared obtained from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, we derive the size of the dusty torus using a toy model for the geometry of the torus. The size of the torus positively correlates with the luminosity of the active nucleus, following a relation that agrees well with previous studies based on reverberation mapping. This result demonstrates that the structure function method can be used as a powerful and highly efficient tool to examine the size of the torus. |
| title | The Size-luminosity Relation of the AGN Torus Determined from the Comparison between Optical and Mid-infrared Variability |
| topic | Astrophysics of Galaxies |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.07863 |