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Journal article
A DESCRIPTION OF QUASAR VARIABILITY MEASURED USING REPEATED SDSS AND POSS IMAGING
The Astrophysical journal, v 753(2), pp 1-21
10 Jul 2012
Abstract
We provide a quantitative description and statistical interpretation of the optical continuum variability of quasars. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has obtained repeated imaging in five UV-to-IR photometric bands for 33,881 spectroscopically confirmed quasars. About 10,000 quasars have an average of 60 observations in each band obtained over a decade along Stripe 82 (S82), whereas the remaining similar to 25,000 have 2-3 observations due to scan overlaps. The observed time lags span the range from a day to almost 10 years, and constrain quasar variability at rest-frame time lags of up to 4 years, and at rest-frame wavelengths from 1000 angstrom to 6000 angstrom. We publicly release a user-friendly catalog of quasars from the SDSS Data Release 7 that have been observed at least twice in SDSS or once in both SDSS and the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, and we use it to analyze the ensemble properties of quasar variability. Based on a damped random walk (DRW) model defined by a characteristic timescale and an asymptotic variability amplitude that scale with the luminosity, black hole mass, and rest wavelength for individual quasars calibrated in S82, we can fully explain the ensemble variability statistics of the non-S82 quasars such as the exponential distribution of large magnitude changes. All available data are consistent with the DRW model as a viable description of the optical continuum variability of quasars on timescales of similar to 5-2000 days in the rest frame. We use these models to predict the incidence of quasar contamination in transient surveys such as those from the Palomar Transient Factory and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.
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Details
- Title
- A DESCRIPTION OF QUASAR VARIABILITY MEASURED USING REPEATED SDSS AND POSS IMAGING
- Creators
- Chelsea L. MacLeod - University of WashingtonZeljko Ivezic - University of WashingtonBranimir Sesar - California Institute of TechnologyWim de Vries - University of California, DavisChristopher S. Kochanek - The Ohio State UniversityBrandon C. Kelly - University of California, Santa BarbaraAndrew C. Becker - University of WashingtonRobert H. Lupton - Princeton UniversityPatrick B. Hall - York UniversityGordon T. Richards - Drexel UniversityScott F. Anderson - University of WashingtonDonald P. Schneider - Pennsylvania State University
- Publication Details
- The Astrophysical journal, v 753(2), pp 1-21
- Publisher
- Iop Publishing Ltd
- Number of pages
- 21
- Grant note
- Max Planck Society; Foundation CELLEX 1009756 / Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien; National Science Foundation (NSF); NSF - Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences (MPS) University of Cambridge University of Chicago Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) U.S. Department of Energy; United States Department of Energy (DOE) National Aeronautics and Space Administration; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) Korean Scientist Group Institute for Advanced Study Chinese Academy of Sciences (LAMOST); Chinese Academy of Sciences United States Naval Observatory Japanese Monbukagakusho; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT) Ohio State University Fermilab University of Pittsburgh AST-0807500; AST-0551161; AST-0908139; AST-1009756 / NSF; National Science Foundation (NSF) Los Alamos National Laboratory; United States Department of Energy (DOE) University of Basel 0807500 / Division Of Astronomical Sciences; National Science Foundation (NSF); NSF - Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences (MPS) Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics Alfred P. Sloan Foundation University of Washington Princeton University Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) New Mexico State University Japan Participation Group; Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) University of Portsmouth Higher Education Funding Council for England; UK Research & Innovation (UKRI); Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) Astrophysical Institute Potsdam Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology American Museum of Natural History Case Western Reserve University National Science Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF) Johns Hopkins University Drexel University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Physics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000305912700013
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84862837455
- Other Identifier
- 991019168329704721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Astronomy & Astrophysics