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The Ensemble Photometric Variability of ~25000 Quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Journal article   Open access

The Ensemble Photometric Variability of ~25000 Quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

D. E. Vanden Berk, B. C Wilhite, R. G Kron, S. F Anderson, R. J Brunner, P. B Hall, Z Ivezic, G. T Richards, D. P Schneider, D. G York, …
arXiv.org
13 Oct 2003
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/380563
url
http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0310336View
SubmittedOpen Access (License Unspecified),  Open
url
https://doi.org/10.1086/380563View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Physics - Astrophysics of Galaxies Physics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics Physics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Physics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Physics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Physics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Astrophys.J.601:692-714,2004 Using a sample of over 25000 spectroscopically confirmed quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, we show how quasar variability in the rest frame optical/UV regime depends upon rest frame time lag, luminosity, rest wavelength, redshift, the presence of radio and X-ray emission, and the presence of broad absorption line systems. The time dependence of variability (the structure function) is well-fit by a single power law on timescales from days to years. There is an anti-correlation of variability amplitude with rest wavelength, and quasars are systematically bluer when brighter at all redshifts. There is a strong anti-correlation of variability with quasar luminosity. There is also a significant positive correlation of variability amplitude with redshift, indicating evolution of the quasar population or the variability mechanism. We parameterize all of these relationships. Quasars with RASS X-ray detections are significantly more variable (at optical/UV wavelengths) than those without, and radio loud quasars are marginally more variable than their radio weak counterparts. We find no significant difference in the variability of quasars with and without broad absorption line troughs. Models involving multiple discrete events or gravitational microlensing are unlikely by themselves to account for the data. So-called accretion disk instability models are promising, but more quantitative predictions are needed.

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Astronomy & Astrophysics
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