Physics - Astrophysics of Galaxies Physics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2015 453 (2):
2075-2081 We gauge the impact of spacecraft-induced effects on the inferred variability
properties of the light curve of the Seyfert 1 AGN Zw 229-15 observed by
\Kepler. We compare the light curve of Zw 229-15 obtained from the Kepler MAST
database with a re-processed light curve constructed from raw pixel data
(Williams & Carini, 2015). We use the first-order structure function,
$SF(\delta t)$, to fit both light curves to the damped power-law PSD of
Kasliwal, Vogeley & Richards, 2015. On short timescales, we find a steeper
log-PSD slope ($\gamma = 2.90$ to within $10$ percent) for the re-processed
light curve as compared to the light curve found on MAST ($\gamma = 2.65$ to
within $10$ percent)---both inconsistent with a damped random walk which
requires $\gamma = 2$. The log-PSD slope inferred for the re-processed light
curve is consistent with previous results (Carini & Ryle, 2012, Williams &
Carini, 2015) that study the same re-processed light curve. The turnover
timescale is almost identical for both light curves ($27.1$ and $27.5$~d for
the reprocessed and MAST database light curves). Based on the obvious visual
difference between the two versions of the light curve and on the PSD model
fits, we conclude that there remain significant levels of spacecraft-induced
effects in the standard pipeline reduction of the Kepler data. Re-processing
the light curves will change the model inferenced from the data but is unlikely
to change the overall scientific conclusion reached by Kasliwal et al.
2015---not all AGN light curves are consistent with the DRW.
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Details
Title
Do the Kepler AGN Light Curves Need Re-processing?
Creators
Vishal P Kasliwal
Michael S Vogeley
Gordon T Richards
Joshua Williams
Michael T Carini
Publication Details
arXiv.org
Resource Type
Preprint
Language
English
Academic Unit
Physics
Other Identifier
991021866371804721
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