Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-lvwk9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-04T03:54:32.252Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

X-Ray Variability in Active Galactic Nuclei: Two Things That Everybody Should Know

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

Karen M. Leighly
Karen M. Leighly*
Affiliation:
Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University538 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027. [email protected]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

X-ray variability is a distinguishing property of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), and the energetics and time scales of the emission dictate that the X-rays must originate very close to the central engine. In this review I discuss two basic topics from AGN variability research. The first is the correlation of the variability time scale with the X-ray luminosity, and the second is the structure of the X-ray light curve. In each case, I first review the old results that have been known for approximately the last 10 years and then I discuss very new results which may force us to modify our ideas about the origin of AGN X-ray variability. Note that I am discussing the variability of non-blazar type AGN.

Type
II. Joint Discussions
Information
Highlights of Astronomy , Volume 11 , Issue 2: Highlights of Astronomy. As presented at the XXIIIrd General Assembly of the IAU (Part B), 1997 , 1998 , pp. 804 - 807
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1998

References

Abramowicz, M., Bao, G., Lanza, A., & Zhang, X.-H. 1991, A&A, 245, 454 Google Scholar
Abramowicz, M. A., Lanza, A., Spiegel, E. A., & Szuszkiewicz, E. 1992, Nature, 356, 41 Google Scholar
Bao, G., & Ostergaard, E., 1995, ApJ, 443, 54 Google Scholar
Barr, P., & Mushotzky, R. F. 1986, Nature, 320, 421 Google Scholar
Boller, T., Brandt, W. N., Fabian, A. C., & Fink, H. H., 1997, MNRAS, 289, 393 Google Scholar
Boller, Th., Brandt, W. N. & Fink, H., 1996, A&A, 305, 53 Google Scholar
Brandt, W. N., Mathur, S., & Elvis, M., 1997, MNRAS, 285, 25 Google Scholar
Czerny, B., & Lehto, H. J., 1997, MNRAS, 285, 365 Google Scholar
Forster, K. & Halpern, J. P. 1996, ApJ, 468, 565 Google Scholar
Goodrich, R. W., 1989, ApJ, 342, 224 Google Scholar
Green, A. R., McHardy, I. M., & Lehto, H. J., 1993, MNRAS, 265, 664 Google Scholar
Haardt, F., Maraschi, L., & Ghisellini, G. 1994, ApJL, 432, 95 Google Scholar
Krolik, J., Done, C., & Madejski, G., 1993, ApJ, 402, 432 Google Scholar
Lawrence, A., et al. 1987, Nature, 325, 694 Google Scholar
Lawrence, A., & Papadakis, I. E., 1993, ApJL, 414, 85 Google Scholar
Lehto, H. J., Czerny, B., & McHardy, I. M., 1993, MNRAS, 261, 125 Google Scholar
Leighly, K. M., & O’Brien, P. T., 1997, ApJL, 481, 15 Google Scholar
Leighly, K. M., et al. 1997a, ApJ, 483, 767 Google Scholar
Leighly, K. M., et al. 1997b, in preparationGoogle Scholar
Lehto, H. 1989. Proc. 23rd ESLAB Symp., eds. Hunt, J. and Battrick, B. (Paris: ESA) p. 499 Google Scholar
McHardy, I. M. 1989. Proc. 23rd ESLAB Symp., eds. Hunt, J. and Battrick, B. (Paris: ESA) p. 1111 Google Scholar
McHardy, I., & Czerny, B., 1987, Nature, 325, 696 Google Scholar
Mineshige, S., Ouchi, B. & Nishimori, H. 1994, PASJ, 46, 97 Google Scholar
Nandra, K., et al. 1997, ApJ, 476, 70 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Negoro, H., Kitamoto, S., Takekuchi, M., & Mineshige, S. 1995, ApJL, 452, 49 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osterbrock, D. E. & Pogge, R. W. 1985, ApJ, 297, 166 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pounds, K. A., Done, C., & Osborne, J. P., 1995, MNRAS, 277, 5P Google Scholar
Vio, R., et al. 1992, ApJ, 391, 518 Google Scholar
Zhang, X.-H., & Bao, G., 1991, A&A, 246, 21 Google Scholar