Testing the extended corona model with the optical/UV reverberation mapping of the accretion disk

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Main Authors: Jaiswal, Vikram K., Czerny, Bożena
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Jaiswal, Vikram K.
Czerny, Bożena
author_facet Jaiswal, Vikram K.
Czerny, Bożena
contents The illumination of the accretion disks is frequently studied assuming that the incident X-ray flux is a point-like source. The approach is referred as lamppost model.The most recent computations of the X-ray reprocessing by the disk take into account the departure from the simple lamppost models. However, in computations of the incident flux thermalization and subsequent re-emission in the optical-UV band the lamppost approximation is most frequently assumed. We test if the UV-optical reverberation mapping and time delay measurements are sensitive to this assumption. We assume that the incident radiation originates from a region extended along the symmetry axis. To model this, we adopt a simple setup by representing the emission as two lamps irradiating the disk simultaneously from two different heights. We then compare the resulting predictions with those obtained for a single lamppost located at an intermediate height. We show at the basis of the transfer function that the deviation of the wavelength-dependent delay curve shows at most a difference of 20% in comparison to a single lamppost, assuming the black hole mass of $10^8 M_{\odot}$, Eddington ratio 1, and the location of the lamps at 5 and 100 r$g$. The maximum deviation happens for the lamp luminosity ratio $\sim3$. When simulating light curves for a two-lamp setup and a standard lamppost with the same black hole mass and a sampling rate of 0.1 days, we find no measurable differences in the ICCF profiles between the two setups. Larger black hole mass and considerably lower Eddington ratio would allow to see larger differences between a single lamppost and a two-lampost model. UV/optical reverberation mapping is not very sensitive to the vertical extension of the corona.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_00806
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Testing the extended corona model with the optical/UV reverberation mapping of the accretion disk
Jaiswal, Vikram K.
Czerny, Bożena
Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
The illumination of the accretion disks is frequently studied assuming that the incident X-ray flux is a point-like source. The approach is referred as lamppost model.The most recent computations of the X-ray reprocessing by the disk take into account the departure from the simple lamppost models. However, in computations of the incident flux thermalization and subsequent re-emission in the optical-UV band the lamppost approximation is most frequently assumed. We test if the UV-optical reverberation mapping and time delay measurements are sensitive to this assumption. We assume that the incident radiation originates from a region extended along the symmetry axis. To model this, we adopt a simple setup by representing the emission as two lamps irradiating the disk simultaneously from two different heights. We then compare the resulting predictions with those obtained for a single lamppost located at an intermediate height. We show at the basis of the transfer function that the deviation of the wavelength-dependent delay curve shows at most a difference of 20% in comparison to a single lamppost, assuming the black hole mass of $10^8 M_{\odot}$, Eddington ratio 1, and the location of the lamps at 5 and 100 r$g$. The maximum deviation happens for the lamp luminosity ratio $\sim3$. When simulating light curves for a two-lamp setup and a standard lamppost with the same black hole mass and a sampling rate of 0.1 days, we find no measurable differences in the ICCF profiles between the two setups. Larger black hole mass and considerably lower Eddington ratio would allow to see larger differences between a single lamppost and a two-lampost model. UV/optical reverberation mapping is not very sensitive to the vertical extension of the corona.
title Testing the extended corona model with the optical/UV reverberation mapping of the accretion disk
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.00806