Motivated by recent progress in the statistical modeling of quasar variability, we develop a new approach to measuring emission-line reverberation lags to estimate the size of broad-line regions (BLRs) in active galactic nuclei. Assuming that all emission-line light curves are scaled, smoothed, and displaced versions of the continuum, this alternative approach fits the light curves directly using a damped random walk model and aligns them to recover the time lag and its statistical confidence limits. We introduce the mathematical formalism of this approach and demonstrate its ability to cope with some of the problems for traditional methods, such as irregular sampling, correlated errors, and seasonal gaps. We redetermine the lags for 87 emission lines in 31 quasars and reassess the BLR size--luminosity relationship using 60 H-beta lags. We confirm the general results from the traditional cross-correlation methods, with a few exceptions. Our method, however, also supports a broad range of extensions. In particular, it can simultaneously fit multiple lines and continuum light curves which improves the lag estimate for the lines and provides estimates of the error correlations between them. Determining these correlations is of particular importance for interpreting emission-line velocity--delay maps. We can also include parameters for luminosity-dependent lags or line responses. We use this to detect the scaling of the BLR size with continuum luminosity in NGC 5548.
Reverberation lags viewed in hard X-rays from an accreting stellar-mass black hole
Wuhan University(武汉大学);Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院高能物理研究所);Newcastle University(纽卡斯尔大学);Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya(加泰罗尼亚理工大学);Beijing Normal University(北京师范大学)
AGN Reverberation Mapping with LITMUS: Fundamental Limits on lag Recovery Rates
University of Queensland(昆士兰大学);Macquarie University(麦考瑞大学);The Ohio State University(俄亥俄州立大学);Stanford University(斯坦福大学);Australian National University(澳大利亚国立大学);The University of Sydney(悉尼大学)
The Radius-Luminosity Relationship for Active Galactic Nuclei with Hierarchical Bayesian Reverberation Mapping
University of Queensland(昆士兰大学);Macquarie University(麦考瑞大学);Astrophysics and Space Technologies Research Centre, Macquarie University(麦考瑞大学天体物理与空间技术中心);The Ohio State University(俄亥俄州立大学);Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Stanford University(斯坦福大学卡弗里粒子天体物理学与宇宙学研究所);Australian National University(澳大利亚国立大学);Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, A28, University of Sydney(悉尼大学A28物理学院悉尼天文研究所)
Discovery of a Luminosity-dependent Continuum Lag in NGC 4151 from Photometric and Spectroscopic Continuum Reverberation Mapping
Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院云南天文台);Key Laboratory for the Structure and Evolution of Celestial Objects, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院天体结构与演化重点实验室);Center for Astronomical Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院天文大科学研究中心);Key Laboratory of Radio Astronomy and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院射电天文与技术重点实验室);Department of Astronomy, Xiamen University(厦门大学天文学系);Institute of Space Sciences (ICE, CSIC)(空间科学研究所(IEE-CSIC));Jeremiah Horrocks Institute, University of Central Lancashire(中央兰开夏大学杰里迈亚·霍罗克斯研究所);School of Physics and Astronomy, Sun Yat-sen University(中山大学物理与天文学院);CSST Science Center for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area(粤港澳大湾区空间站科学中心);National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院国家天文台);Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences(中国科学院上海天文台)