The variability of 30 PG quasars has been observed in the red band during three years. A rest-frame structure function analysis shows an increase of variability with the time interval up to 0.2 mag r.m.s. after two years. A comparison with the IUE data available for PG quasars shows that the variability increases with the rest-frame frequency at each time interval. Evidence for this effect is supported by the analysis of the average variability of other published quasar samples. The effect can completely account for the increase of variability with redshift found in other studies.Comment: 23 pages, uuencoded, compressed postscript file including figures, also available at http://itovf2.roma2.infn.it/vagnetti/cimp.ps, submitted to Ap

A re ned sample of 64 variable objects with stellar image structure has been identi ed in SA 57 to B 22:5, over a time baseline of 15 years, sampled at 11 distinct epochs. The photometric data typically have a root-mean-square error at B = 22 of only 0.05 mag. Thirty-ve quasars in this eld have already been spectroscopically con rmed, 34 of which are among the sample of variables. Of the other variables, 6 are known spectroscopically to be stars, 10 additional objects are stars based on reliable detection of proper motion, and 1 is spectroscopically a narrow-emission-line galaxy. Of the 13 remaining variables, it is argued that they are a mixture of distant halo subdwarfs and quasars with star-like colors. We compute the ensemble average structure function and autocorrelation function from the light curves in the respective quasar rest-frames, which are used to investigate the general dependences on apparent magnitude, absolute magnitude, and redshift.

Light curves of eight BL Lac objects in the BVRI bands have been analyzed. All of the objects tend to be bluer when brighter. However spectral slope changes differ quantitatively from those of a sample of QSOs analyzed in a previous paper (Trevese & Vagnetti 2002) and appear consistent with a different nature of the optical continuum. A simple model representing the variability of a synchrotron component can explain the spectral changes. Constraints on a possible thermal accretion disk component contributing to the optical luminosity are discussed.

We performed a new analysis of B and R light curves of a sample of PG quasars. We confirm the variability-redshift correlation and its explanation in terms of spectral variability, coupled with the increase of rest-frame observing frequency for quasars at high redshift. The analysis of the instantaneous spectral slope for the whole quasar samples indicates both an inter-QSO and intra-QSO variability-luminosity correlation. Numerical simulations show that the latter correlation cannot be entirely due to the addition of the host galaxy emission to a nuclear spectrum of variable luminosity but constant shape, implying a spectral variability of the nuclear component. Changes of accretion rate are also insufficient to explain the amount of spectral variation, while hot spots possibly caused by local disk instabilities can explain the observations.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Ap.J., January 200