论文标题
ZTF强制光度法曲线的“轻巧”超质量黑洞的光学变异性
Optical Variability of "Light-weight" Supermassive Black Holes at a Few Percent Level from ZTF Forced-Photometry Light Curves
论文作者
论文摘要
大型时域调查为从几天到几年中的时间尺度上检测和探索数百万来源的可变性提供了独特的机会。当其他“直接”确认标准（如X射线或无线电发射）不可用时，宽带光度变异性可以用作弱I型活性银河核（AGN）的关键选择标准。但是，为了检测由中间质量黑洞驱动的相当弱的AGN的可变性，现有光曲线数据库提供的典型灵敏度不足。在这里，我们提出了一种用于后处理的算法，用于处理具有随机变异性源的光曲线，该算法是从Zwicky瞬态设施（ZTF）强制光度法服务中检索的。使用我们的方法，我们可以滤除与数据减少人工制品有关的虚假数据点，并消除与不完善的光度校准有关的长期趋势。现在，我们可以自信地检测到1-3 $ \％$级别的宽带可变性，该级别可以用作昂贵的X射线随访观测值的替代品。
Large time-domain surveys provide a unique opportunity to detect and explore variability of millions of sources on timescales from days to years. Broadband photometric variability can be used as the key selection criteria for weak type-I active galactic nuclei (AGN), when other "direct" confirmation criteria like X-ray or radio emission are unavailable. However, to detect variability of rather weak AGN powered by intermediate-mass black holes, typical sensitivity provided by existing light curve databases is insufficient. Here we present an algorithm for post-processing of light curves for sources with stochastic variability, retrieved from the The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) Forced Photometry service. Using our approach, we can filter out spurious data points related to data reduction artefacts and also eliminate long-term trends related to imperfect photometric calibration. We can now confidently detect the broad-band variability at the 1-3 $\%$ level which can potentially be used as a substitute for expensive X-ray follow-up observations.
