TY - JOUR
KW - Space and Planetary Science
KW - Astronomy and Astrophysics
AU - Jason Dexter
AU - Shuo Xin
AU - Yue Shen
AU - C. Grier
AU - Teng Liu
AU - Suvi Gezari
AU - Ian McGreer
AU - W. Brandt
AU - P. Hall
AU - Keith Horne
AU - Torben Simm
AU - Andrea Merloni
AU - Paul Green
AU - M. Vivek
AU - Jonathan Trump
AU - Yasaman Homayouni
AU - B. Peterson
AU - Donald Schneider
AU - K. Kinemuchi
AU - Kaike Pan
AU - Dmitry Bizyaev
AB - We analyze extensive spectroscopic and photometric data of the hypervariable quasar SDSS;J141324+530527 (RMID 017) at z;=;0.456, an optical ?changing-look? quasar from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping project that increased in optical luminosity by a factor 10 between 2014 and 2017. The observed broad emission lines all respond in luminosity and width to the changing optical continuum, as expected for photoionization in a stratified, virialized broad emission line region. The luminosity changes therefore result from intrinsic changes in accretion power rather than variable obscuration. The variability is continuous and apparently stochastic, disfavoring an origin as a discrete event such as a tidal disruption flare or microlensing event. It is coordinated on day timescales with blue leading red, consistent with reprocessing powering the entire optical spectral energy distribution. We show that this process cannot work in a standard thin disk geometry on energetic grounds, and would instead require a large covering factor reprocessor. Disk instability models could potentially also explain the data, provided that the instability sets in near the inner radius of a geometrically thick accretion disk.
BT - The Astrophysical Journal
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/ab4354
IS - 1
N2 - We analyze extensive spectroscopic and photometric data of the hypervariable quasar SDSS;J141324+530527 (RMID 017) at z;=;0.456, an optical ?changing-look? quasar from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping project that increased in optical luminosity by a factor 10 between 2014 and 2017. The observed broad emission lines all respond in luminosity and width to the changing optical continuum, as expected for photoionization in a stratified, virialized broad emission line region. The luminosity changes therefore result from intrinsic changes in accretion power rather than variable obscuration. The variability is continuous and apparently stochastic, disfavoring an origin as a discrete event such as a tidal disruption flare or microlensing event. It is coordinated on day timescales with blue leading red, consistent with reprocessing powering the entire optical spectral energy distribution. We show that this process cannot work in a standard thin disk geometry on energetic grounds, and would instead require a large covering factor reprocessor. Disk instability models could potentially also explain the data, provided that the instability sets in near the inner radius of a geometrically thick accretion disk.
PB - American Astronomical Society
PY - 2019
EP - 44
T2 - The Astrophysical Journal
TI - The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: Accretion and Broad Emission Line Physics from a Hypervariable Quasar
VL - 885
SN - 1538-4357
ER -