We report X-ray spectral variability in an ultraluminous X-ray source NGC 1042 ULX1, using archival XMM-Newton and recent NuSTAR observations. In long-term evolution, the source has shown a trend of variation in spectral hardness. The variability in different XMM-Newton observations is prominent above $\sim 1$ keV. Cool thermal disk component with a characteristic temperature of $\sim 0.2$ keV manifests that the spectral state of NGC 1042 ULX1 in all epochs is similar to that of the ultraluminous state sources. An apparent anti-correlation between luminosity and powerlaw index demonstrates that the source becomes spectrally harder when it is in a brighter state. That is conceivably related to variation in accretion rate, strength of comptonization, wind/outflow in the system or a manifestation of varying disk occultation. Typical hard ultraluminous type spectra indicate that NGC 1042 ULX1 is a low inclination system in general. Spectral properties suggest that, like many other ULXs which show spectral curvature around $\sim 6-10$ keV, NGC 1042 ULX1 could be another stellar-mass super-Eddington accretor.
We present our analysis of the X-ray variability of two ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) based on multiple XMM--Newton observations. We show the linear rms-flux relation is present in eight observations of NGC5408 X-1 and also in three observations of NGC6946 X-1, but data from other ULXs are generally not sufficient to constrain any rms-flux relation. The presence of this relation was previously reported in only two observations of NGC 5408X-1; our results show this is a persistent property of the variability of NGC5408 X-1 and extends to at least one other variable ULX. We speculate this i…
We analyzed the longest phase-connected photometric dataset available for NGC 1313 X-2, looking for the ~6 day modulation reported by Liu et al. (2009). The folded B band light curve shows a 6 days periodicity with a significance slightly larger than 3 sigma. The low statistical significance of this modulation, along with the lack of detection in the V band, make its identification uncertain.
Using two archival XMM-Newton observations, we identify strong X-ray flux variations in NGC 6946 X-1 indicating it is the most variable ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) on mHz time scales known so far. The 1-10 keV lightcurve exhibits variability with a fractional rms amplitude of 60% integrated in the frequency range of 1-100 mHz. The power spectral density of the source shows a flat-topped spectrum that breaks at about 3 mHz with possible quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) near 8.5 mHz. Black hole binaries usually produce strong fast variability in the hard or intermediate state. The energy …
NGC 1275 is a gamma-ray-emitting radio galaxy at the center of the Perseus cluster. Its multi-wavelength spectrum is similar to that of blazers, and thus a jet-origin of gamma-ray emissions is believed. In the optical and X-ray region, NGC 1275 also shows a bright core, but their origin has not been understood, since a disk emission is not ruled out. In fact, NGC 1275 exhibits optical broad emission lines and a X-ray Fe-K line, which are typical for Seyfert galaxies. In our precious studies of NGC 1275 with Suzaku/XIS, no X-ray time variability was found from 2006 to 2011, regardless of modera…
The notion of source states characterizing the X-ray emission from black hole binaries has revealed to be a very useful tool to disentangle the complex spectral and aperiodic phenomenology displayed by those classes of accreting objects. We seek to use the same tools for Ultra-Luminous X-ray (ULX) sources. We analyzed the data from the longest observations obtained from the ULX source in NGC 5408 (NGC 5408 X-1) taken by XMM-Newton. We performed a study of the timing and spectral properties of the source. In accordance with previous studies on similar sources, the intrinsic energy spectra of th…
We analyze the ultraviolet (UV) and X-ray data of NGC 1275 obtained with {\it Swift}/UVOT, XRT, BAT and {\it Fermi} Large Area Telescope over about 10 years to investigate the origin of the nuclear emission from NGC 1275. We confirm that the UV and soft/hard X-ray fluxes gradually increased along with the GeV gamma rays. At times, short-term variations in the UV or soft X-ray spectral regions showed rapid variations correlated with the GeV gamma-rays. However there was no significant correlation between the UV and soft X-rays. The UV spectrum had a narrow spectral shape that could be represent…
We analyzed Suzaku/XIS data of 2006--2015 observations of a gamma-ray emitting radio galaxy NGC 1275, and brightening of the nucleus in the X-ray band was found in 2013--2015, correlating with GeV Gamma-ray brightening. This is the first evidence of variability with correlation between GeV gamma-ray and X-ray for NGC 1275. We also analyzed Swift/XRT data of NGC 1275, and found that X-ray was flaring by a factor of $\sim$5 in several days in 2006, 2010, and 2013. The X-ray spectrum during the flare was featureless and somewhat steeper with a photon index of $\sim$2 against $\sim$1.7 in the norm…
We analyse 400 ks of XMM-Newton data on the active galactic nucleus NGC 1365 using principal component analysis (PCA) to identify model independent spectral components. We find two significant components and demonstrate that they are qualitatively different from those found in MCG?6-30-15 using the same method. As the variability in NGC 1365 is known to be due to changes in the parameters of a partial covering neutral absorber, this shows that the same mechanism cannot be the driver of variability in MCG-6-30-15. By examining intervals where the spectrum shows relatively low absorption we sepa…
We report the results of a one year Swift X-ray/UV/optical programme monitoring the dwarf Seyfert nucleus in NGC 4395 in 2008-2009. The UV/optical flux from the nucleus was found to vary dramatically over the monitoring period, with a similar pattern of variation in each of the observed UV/optical bands (spanning 1900 - 5500 Å). In particular, the luminosity of NGC 4395 in the 1900 Å band changed by more than a factor of eight over the monitoring period. The fractional variability was smaller in the UV/optical bands than that seen in the X-rays, with the X-ray/optical ratio increasing with inc…
The active galaxy NGC1275 lies at the centre of the Perseus cluster of galaxies, which is the X-ray brightest cluster in the Sky. The nucleus shows large variability over the past few decades. We compile a lightcurve of its X-ray emission covering about 40 years and show that the bright phase around 1980 explains why the inner X-ray bubbles were not seen in the images taken with the Einstein Observatory. The flux had dropped considerably by 1992 when images with the ROSAT HRI led to their discovery. The nucleus is showing a slow X-ray rise since the first Chandra images in 2000. If it brighten…
We present a series of X-ray variability results from a long XMM-Newton + NuSTAR campaign on the bright, variable AGN NGC 3227. We present an analysis of the lightcurves, showing that the source displays typically softer-when-brighter behaviour, although also undergoes significant spectral hardening during one observation which we interpret as due to an occultation event by a cloud of absorbing gas. We spectrally decompose the data and show that the bulk of the variability is continuum-driven and, through rms variability analysis, strongly enhanced in the soft band. We show that the source lar…
The quiescent spectrum of neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries typically consists of two components - a thermal component associated with emission from the neutron star surface, and a non-thermal power-law component whose origin is not well understood. Spectral fitting of neutron star atmosphere models to the thermal component is one of the leading methods for measuring the neutron star radius. However, it has been known for years that the X-ray spectra of quiescent neutron stars vary between observations. While most quiescent variability is explained through a variable power-law component, th…
We report on the largest Swift AGN monitoring program, concerning UV/optical variability in Seyferts. From 554 observations, over a 750d period, of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 5548, we see (McHardy et al. 2014) a good overall correlation between the X-ray and UV/optical bands,particularly on short timescales (tens of days). The UVOT bands are found to lag behind X-rays with a lag scaling as wavelength to the power 1.23 +/- 0.31, in excellent agreement with that expected (1.33) if UV/optical variability arises from reprocessing of X-rays by the accretion disc. However, the observed lags are ~3 times…
We study the variability mechanism of active galactic nuclei (AGN) within the framework of the flare model. To this end we examine the case of Seyfert/LINER galaxy NGC 4258, which is observed at high inclination angle and exhibits rapid fluctuations of the X-ray light curve. We construct a model light curve based on the assumption of magnetic flares localized in the equatorial plane and orbiting with Keplerian speed at each given radius. We calculate the level of variability as a function of the inclination of an observer, taking into account all effects of general relativity near a rotating s…
We have performed systematic studies of narrow Fe-K line (6.4 keV) flux variability and Ni-K line intensity for Seyfert galaxies, using {\em Suzaku} and {\em XMM-Newton} archival data. Significant Fe-K line variability of several tens percents was detected for a pair of observations separated by 1000--2000 days (Cen A, IC 4329 A, NGC 3516, and NGC 4151) and 158 days (NGC 3516). These timescales are larger by a factor of 10--100 than the inner radius of torus, consistent with the view that X-ray reflection by torus is a main origin of a narrow Fe-K line. Ni-K line was detected with $>2σ$ level …
NGC 3783 was observed for approximately 210ks by Suzaku and in this time showed significant spectral and flux variability at both short (20ks) and long (100ks) time scales. The full observation is found to consist of approximately six "spectral periods" where the behaviour of the soft (0.3-1.0keV) and hard (2-10keV) bands are somewhat distinct. Using a variety of methods we find that the strong warm absorber present in this source does not change on these time scales, confirming that the broad-band variability is intrinsic to the central source. The time resolved difference-spectra are well mo…
We present results of multicolor UBVRI observations of the type 1 Seyfert galaxy (SyG 1) NGC 7469 carried out at the 1.5-meter telescope of the Maidanak Observatory (Uzbekistan) in 2008-2014. Analysis of the light curves indicates the presence of another slow flare of a long-term variability in 2009-2014 with a maximum in 2011-2012. We investigate properties of the long-term variability in 2009-2014, present (U-B)-(B-V) color diagrams for maxima and minima of NGC 7469 nuclear variability using various apertures and compare them with the black-body gas radiation which models the accretion disk …
Lags measured from correlated X-ray/UV/optical monitoring of AGN allow us to determine whether UV/optical variability is driven by reprocessing of X-rays or X-ray variability is driven by UV/optical seed photon variations. We present the results of the largest study to date of the relationship between the X-ray, UV and optical variability in an AGN with 554 observations, over a 750d period, of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 with Swift. There is a good overall correlation between the X-ray and UV/optical bands, particularly on short timescales (tens of days). These bands lag the X-ray band with …
We present a detailed multi-frequency analysis of an intense monitoring programme of Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4593 over a duration of nearly for a month with Swift observatory. We used 185 pointings to study the variability in six ultraviolet/optical and two soft (0.3-1.5 keV) and hard X-ray (1.5-10 keV) bands. The amplitude of the observed variability is found to decrease from high energy to low energy (X-ray to optical) bands. Count-count plots of ultraviolet/optical bands with hard X-rays clearly suggest the presence of a mixture of two major components: (i) highly variable component such as ha…
We present a detailed study of the highly obscured active galaxy NGC 4507, performed using four Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) observations carried out between May and August in 2015 (~ 130 ks in total). Using various phenomenological and physically motivated torus models, we explore the properties of the X-ray source and those of the obscuring material. The primary X-ray emission is found to be non-variable, indicating a stable accretion during the period of the observations. We find the equatorial column density of the obscuring materials to be ~ 2 x 10^24 cm^-2 while the lin…
We report short-cadence monitoring of a radio-quiet Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), NGC7469, at 95 GHz (3 mm) over a period of 70 days with the CARMA telescope. The AGN varies significantly ($\pm3σ$ from the mean) by a factor of two within 4-5 days. The intrinsic 95 GHz variability amplitude in excess of the measurement noise (10%) and relative to the mean flux is comparable to that in the X-rays, and much higher than at 8.4 GHz. The mm-band variability and its similarity to the X-ray variability adds to the evidence that the mm and X-ray emission have the same physical origin, and are associate…
We analyse a sample of 26 active galactic nuclei with deep XMM-Newton observations, using principal component analysis (PCA) to find model independent spectra of the different variable components. In total, we identify at least 12 qualitatively different patterns of spectral variability, involving several different mechanisms, including five sources which show evidence of variable relativistic reflection (MCG-6-30-15, NGC 4051, 1H 0707-495, NGC 3516 and Mrk 766) and three which show evidence of varying partial covering neutral absorption (NGC 4395, NGC 1365, and NGC 4151). In over half of the …
Ultra-Luminous X-ray sources are accreting black holes that might represent strong evidence of the Intermediate Mass Black Holes (IMBH), proposed to exist by theoretical studies but with no firm detection (as a class) so far. We analyze the best X-ray timing and spectral data from the ULX in NGC 5408 provided by XMM-Newton. The main goal is to study the broad-band noise variability of the source. We found an anti-correlation of the fractional root-mean square variability versus the intensity of the source, similar to black-hole binaries during hard states.
We present the results of an investigation of the X-ray and UV properties of four LINERs observed with Swift, aimed at constructing good S/N and strictly simultaneous UV-X-ray SEDs. In the current paradigm, LINER emission is dominated by geometrically thick, radiatively inefficient radiation flows (RIAFs) as opposed to radiatively efficient, geometrically thin accretion disks thought to power higher luminosity AGNs (Seyferts and QSOs). However, some recent studies have found more similarities than differences between the SEDs of LINERs and those of more luminous AGNs, suggesting that LINERs ar…
We report the discovery of large amplitude X-ray variability in the low luminosity AGN (LLAGN) MGC 7589, and present possible observational evidence for accretion mode transition in this source. Long-term X-ray flux variations by a factor of more than 50 are found using X-ray data obtained by Swift/XRT and XMM-Newton over 17 years. Results of long-term monitoring data in the UV, optical and infrared bands over ~20 years are also presented. The Eddington ratio increased from $10^{-3}$ to $\sim0.13$, suggesting a transition of the accretion flow from an ADAF to a standard thin accretion disc. Fu…
Most ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are thought to be powered by neutron stars and black holes accreting beyond the Eddington limit. If the compact object is a black hole or a neutron star with a magnetic field $\lesssim10^{12}$ G, the accretion disc is expected to thicken and launch powerful winds driven by radiation pressure. Evidence of such winds has been found in ULXs through the high-resolution spectrometers onboard XMM-Newton, but several unknowns remain, such as the geometry and launching mechanism of these winds. In order to better understand ULX winds and their link to the accret…
We present NuSTAR observations of the bright Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 2110 obtained in 2012, when the source was at the highest flux level ever observed, and in 2013, when the source was at a more typical flux level. We include archival observations from other X-ray satellites, namely XMM-Newton, Suzaku, BeppoSAX, Chandra and Swift. Simultaneous NuSTAR and Swift broad band spectra (in the 3-80 keV range) indicate a cutoff energy $E_{\rm c}>210$ keV, with no detectable contribution from Compton reflection. NGC 2110 is one of the very few sources where no evidence for distant Compton thick scatterin…
We present a complete spectral analysis of an XMM-Newton and Chandra campaign of the obscured AGN in NGC 4507, consisting of six observations spanning a period of six months, ranging from June 2010 to December 2010. We detect strong absorption variability on time scales between 1.5 and 4 months, suggesting that the obscuring material consists of gas clouds at parsec-scale distance. The lack of significant variability on shorter time scales suggests that this event is not due to absorption by broad line region clouds, which was instead found in other studies of similar sources. This shows that …
We investigate the ionic column density variability of the ionized outflows associated with NGC$\sim$7469, to estimate their location and power. This could allow a better understanding of galactic feedback of AGNs to their host galaxies. Analysis of seven XMM-Newton grating observations from 2015 is reported. We use an individual-ion spectral fitting approach, and compare different epochs to accurately determine variability on time-scales of years, months, and days. We find no significant column density variability in a 10 year period implying that the outflow is far from the ionizing source. …
We present the results of the Suzaku observation of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 4507. This source is one of the X-ray brightest Compton-thin Seyfert 2s and a candidate for a variable absorber. Suzaku caught NGC 4507 in a highly absorbed state characterised by a high column density (NH \sim8 x10^23 cm^-2), a strong reflected component (R\sim 1.9) and a high equivalent width Fe K alpha emission line (EW\sim 500 eV). The Fe K alpha emission line is unresolved at the resolution of the Suzaku CCDs (sigma < 30 eV or FWHM < 3000 km s^-1) and most likely originates in a distant absorber. The Fe K beta em…
Context. Obscuration events caused by outflowing clumps or streams of high column density, low ionisation gas, heavily absorbing the X-ray continuum, have been witnessed in a number of Seyfert galaxies. Aims. We report on the X-ray spectral-timing analysis of the December 2016 obscuration event in NGC 3783, aimed at probing variability of the X-ray obscurer on the shortest possible timescales. The main goals of this study are to obtain independent constraints on the density, and ultimately on the distance of the obscuring gas, as well as to characterise the impact of variable obscuration on th…
We present analysis of the long-term X-ray spectral variability of Seyfert galaxies as observed by Swift, which provides well-sampled observations over a much larger flux range and a much longer timescale than any other X-ray observatory. We examine long-term variability of three AGN: NGC 1365 (see Connolly et al. 2014), Mkn 335 and NGC 5548. At high fluxes, the 0.5-10 keV spectra soften with increasing flux, as seen previously within the 2-10 keV band. However, at very low fluxes the sources also become very soft. We have fitted a number of models to the data and find that both intrinsic lumi…
We report the detection of flaring events in NGC 4395 ULX1, a nearby ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX), for the first time, using recent XMM-NEWTON observations. The flaring episodes are spectrally harder than the steady emission intervals, resulting in higher fractional variability in the high energy regime. A thin Keplerian and a slim accretion disk provide the best-fit continuum for XMM-NEWTON spectra. All observations show a broad hump-like feature around $\sim 0.9$ keV, which can be associated with a collection of blended emission lines, and suggests the presence of a wind/outflow in this …
Aims: We used data from the 58 month long, continuous Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) observations of the five brightest Seyfert galaxies at hard X-rays, to study their flux and spectral variability in the 20-100 keV energy band. The column density in these objects is less than 10^24 cm-2, which implies that the Swift/BAT data allow us to study the "true" variability of the central source. Results: All objects show significant variations, with an amplitude which is similar to the AGN variability amplitude at energies below 10 keV. We found evidence for an anti-correlation between variability…
We examined the variability of three ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in the 2003, 110 ks XMM-Newton observation of NGC253. Remarkably, we discovered ULX1 to be three times more variable than ULX2 in the 0.3--10 keV band, even though ULX2 is brighter. Indeed, ULX1 exhibits a power density spectrum that is consistent with the canonical high state or very high/steep power law state, but not the canonical low state. The 0.3--10 keV emission of ULX1 is predominantly non-thermal, and may be related to the very high state. We also fitted the ULX spectra with disc blackbody, slim disc and convolut…
We present the variability analysis of a 100 ks XMM-Newton observation of the Seyfert 1.5 active galaxy NGC 3227. The observation found NGC 3227 in a period where its hard power-law component displayed remarkably little long-term variability. This lucky event allows us to observe clearly a soft spectral component undergoing a large-amplitude but slow flux variation. Using combined spectral and timing analysis we isolate two independent variable continuum components and characterize their behavior as a function of timescale. Rapid and coherent variations throughout the 0.2-10 keV band reveal a …
NGC 55 ULX1 is a bright Ultraluminous X-ray source located 1.78 Mpc away. We analysed a sample of 20 Swift observations, taken between 2013 April and August, and two Chandra observations taken in 2001 September and 2004 June. We found only marginal hints of a limited number of dips in the light curve, previously reported to occur in this source, although the uncertainties due to the low counting statistics of the data are large. The Chandra and Swift spectra showed clearly spectral variability which resembles those observed in other ULXs. We can account for this spectral variability in terms o…
We present an analysis of the high frequency X-ray variability of NGC 4051 (M_BH ~ 1.7*10^6 M_sun) based on a series of XMM-Newton observations taken in 2009 with a total exposure of ~570 ks (EPIC pn). These data reveal the form of the power spectrum over frequencies from 10^-4 Hz, below the previously detected power spectral break, to > 10^-2 Hz, above the frequency of the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) around the black hole (nu_ISCO ~ 10^-3 - 10^-2 Hz, depending on the black hole spin parameter j). This is equivalent to probing frequencies >1 kHz in a stellar mass (M_BH ~ 10 Msun) bl…
We report the results of a 2019-2021 monitoring campaign with Swift and associated target-of-opportunity observations with XMM-Newton and NuSTAR, examining the spectral and timing behavior of the highly variable ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) NGC 925 ULX-3. We find that the source exhibits a 127-128 day periodicity, with fluxes typically ranging from 1e-13 to 8e-13 ergs/s/cm2. We do not find strong evidence for a change in period over the time that NGC 925 ULX-3 has been observed, although the source may have been in a much lower flux state when first observed with Chandra in 2005. We do not…
We present optical light curves from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) for the archetypical dwarf active galactic nucleus (AGN) in the nearby galaxy NGC 4395 hosting a $\sim 10^5\,M_\odot$ supermassive black hole (SMBH). Significant variability is detected on timescales from weeks to hours before reaching the background noise level. The $\sim$month-long, 30 minute-cadence, high-precision TESS light curve can be well fit by a simple damped random walk (DRW) model, with the damping timescale $τ_{\rm DRW}$ constrained to be $2.3_{-0.7}^{+1.8}$~days ($1σ$). NGC 4395 lies almost exac…
The Seyfert-1 galaxy NGC 3516 has undergone major spectral changes in recent years. In 2017 we obtained Chandra, NuSTAR, and Swift observations during its new low-flux state. Using these observations we model the spectral energy distribution (SED) and the intrinsic X-ray absorption, and compare the results with those from historical observations taken in 2006. We thereby investigate the effects of the changing-look phenomenon on the accretion-powered radiation and the ionized outflows. Compared to its normal high-flux state in 2006, the intrinsic bolometric luminosity of NGC 3516 was lower by …
The Narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4051 is known to exhibit significant X-ray spectral/flux variations and have a number of emission/absorption features. X-ray observations have revealed that these absorption features are blueshifted, which indicates that NGC 4051 has warm absorber outflow. In order to constrain physical parameters of the warm absorber outflow, we analyze the archival data with the longest exposure taken by XMM-Newton in 2009. We calculate the root-mean-square (RMS) spectra with the grating spectral resolution for the first time. The RMS spectra have a sharp peak and several…
Using archival RXTE data, we show that the ultracompact X-ray binary in NGC 1851 exhibits large amplitude X-ray flux varations of more than a factor of 10 on timescales of days to weeks and undergoes sustained periods of months where the time-averaged luminosty varies by factors of two. Variations of this magnitude and timescale have not been reported previously in other ultracompact X-ray binaries. Mass transfer in ultracompact binaries is thought to be driven by gravitational radiation and the predicted transfer rates are so high that the disks of ultracompact binaries with orbits as short a…
Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are powered by accreting supermassive black holes, surrounded by a torus of obscuring material. Recent studies have shown how the torus structure, formerly thought to be homogeneous, appears to be 'patchy': the detection of variability in the line-of-sight hydrogen column density, in fact, matches the description of an obscurer with a complex structure made of clouds with different column density. In this work, we perform a multi-epoch analysis of the X-ray spectra of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 7479 in order to estimate its torus properties, such as the average colum…
The origin of the low luminosity radio emission in radio-quiet AGN, is unknown. The detection of a positive correlation between the radio and X-ray emission would imply a jet-like origin, similar to that seen in `hard state' X-ray binary systems. In our previous work, we found no believable radio variability in the well known X-ray bright Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4051, despite large amplitude X-ray variability. In this study we have carefully re-analysed radio and X-ray observations using the same methods as our previous work, we again find no evidence for core radio variability. In direct contras…
We present our investigation into the long-term variability of the X-ray obscuration and optical-UV-X-ray continuum in the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548. In 2013 and 2014, the Swift observatory monitored NGC 5548 on average every day or two, with archival observations reaching back to 2005, totalling about 670 ks of observing time. Both broadband spectral modelling and temporal rms variability analysis are applied to the Swift data. We disentangle the variability caused by absorption, due to an obscuring weakly-ionised outflow near the disk, from variability of the intrinsic continuum components (…
We present intensive quasi-simultaneous X-ray and radio monitoring of the narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4051, over a 16 month period in 2000-2001. Observations were made with the Rossi Timing X-ray Explorer (RXTE) and the Very Large Array (VLA) at 8.4 and 4.8 GHz. In the X-ray band NGC 4051 behaves much like a Galactic black hole binary (GBH) system in a `soft-state'. In such systems, there has so far been no firm evidence for an active, radio-emitting jet like those found in `hard state' GBHs. VLBI observations of NGC 4051 show three co-linear compact components. This structure resembles t…
Using simultaneous Very Long Baseline Array and Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory X-ray Telescope observations of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) in NGC 2992 over a six-month observing campaign, we observed a large drop in core 5 cm radio luminosity, by a factor of $>3$, in tandem with factor of $>5$ increase in $2-10$ keV X-ray luminosity. While NGC 2992 has long been an important object for studies of X-ray variability, our study is the first simultaneous X-ray and radio variability campaign on this object. We observe that the X-ray spectral index does not change over the course of the flare,…
A key characteristic of many active galactic nuclei (AGN) is their variability, but its origin is poorly understood, especially in the radio domain. Williams et al. (2017) reported a ~50 per cent increase in peak flux density of the AGN in the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4151 at 1.5 GHz with the e-MERLIN array. We present new high resolution e-MERLIN observations at 5 GHz and compare these to archival MERLIN observations to investigate the reported variability. Our new observations allow us to probe the nuclear region at a factor three times higher-resolution than the previous e-MERLIN study. We separa…
Energy dependence of the X-ray power spectrum in NGC4051 and NGC4395
University of Crete（克里特大学）；Institute of Theoretical and Computational Physics, University of Crete（克里特大学理论与计算物理研究所）；Institute of Astrophysics, FORTH（FORTH天体物理研究所）；National Observatory of Athens（雅典国家天文台）；Department of Astronomy, The University of Maryland（马里兰大学天文学系）；CRESST II, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center（NASA戈达德太空飞行中心CRESST II项目）；Cahill Center for Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院凯尔天体物理中心）；NASA Goddard Space Flight Center（NASA戈达德太空飞行中心）；Center for Space Science and Technology, University of Maryland Baltimore County（马里兰大学巴尔的摩县分校空间科学与技术中心）；Department of Physics, University of Crete（克里特大学物理系）
We analyse 15 XMM-Newton observations of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4051 obtained over 45 days to determine the ultraviolet (UV) light curve variability characteristics and search for correlated UV/X-ray emission. The UV light curve shows variability on all time scales, however with lower fractional rms than the 0.2-10 keV X-rays. On days-weeks timescales the fractional variability of the UV is Fvar ~ 8%, and on short (~ hours) timescales Fvar ~ 2%. The within-observation excess variance in 4 of the 15 UV observations was found be much higher than the remaining 11. This was caused by large systema…
X-ray Absorption Variability in NGC 1142: Another Constraint on the Nature of the Torus/Broad-Line Region in Active Galactic Nuclei
Clemson University（克莱姆森大学）；University of Virginia（弗吉尼亚大学）；Università degli Studi di Bologna（博洛尼亚大学）；INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna（意大利国家天体物理研究所博洛尼亚天文台）；INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera（意大利国家天体物理研究所布雷拉天文台）；University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign（伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校）；European Southern Observatory（欧洲南方天文台）
The origin of short timescale (weeks/months) variability of AGN, whether due to intrinsic disc variations or reprocessing of X-ray emission by a surrounding accretion disc, has been a puzzle for many years. However recently a number of observational programmes, particularly of NGC5548 with Swift, have shown that the UV/optical variations lag behind the X-ray variations in a manner strongly supportive of X-ray reprocessing. Somewhat surprisingly the implied size of the accretion disc is ~3x greater than expected from a standard, smooth, Shakura-Sunyaev thin disc model. Although the difference m…
We present simultaneous X-ray and optical B and V band light curves of the Seyfert Galaxy NGC3783 spanning 2 years. The flux in all bands is highly variable and the fluctuations are significantly correlated. As shown before by Stirpe et al. the optical bands vary simultaneously, with a delay of less than 1.5 days but both B and V bands lag the X-ray fluctuations by 3-9 days. This delay points at optical variability produced by X-ray reprocessing and the value of the lag places the reprocessor close to the broad line region. A power spectrum analysis of the light curve, however, shows that the …
We present a flux-resolved X-ray analysis of the dwarf Seyfert 1.8 galaxy NGC 4395, based on three archival $XMM-Newton$ and one archival $NuSTAR$ observations. The source is known to harbor a low mass black hole ($\sim 10^4- {\rm a~ few~}\times 10^{5}~\rm M_\odot$) and shows strong variability in the full X-ray range during these observations. We model the flux-resolved spectra of the source assuming three absorbing layers: neutral, mildly ionized, and highly ionized ($N_{\rm H} \sim 1.6\times 10^{22}-3.4 \times 10^{23}~\rm cm^{-2}$, $\sim 0.8-7.8 \times 10^{22}~\rm cm^{-2}$, and $ 3.8 \times…
