Photometric Reverberation Mapping of AGNs at 0.1 < z <0.8. I. Observational Technique

Abstract

The improvement of the calibration relation for determining the size of the broad-line region from the observed optical luminosity of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is a necessary task to study fundamental parameters of distant AGNs such as mass of the central supermassive black hole. The most popular method of the BLR size estimation is the reverberation mapping based on measuring the time delay between the continuum flux and the flux in the emission lines. In our work, we apply the method of photometric reverberation mapping in medium-band filters, adapted for observations at the Zeiss-1000 telescope of the SAO RAS, for the study of AGN with broad lines in the range of redshifts 0.1 < z < 0.8. This paper describes the technique of observations and data processing, provides a sample of objects and demonstrates the stability of the used method. As a preliminary result for 2MASX J08535955+7700543 at z = 0.1 we have obtained time delay estimates of τ (ICCF ) = 32.2 ±10.6 days and τ (JAVELIN) = 39.5 +23.0 −15.8 days that are consistent with each other and also within the accuracy of the existing calibration relations.

Determination of the Physical Parameters of AGNs in Seyfert 1 Galaxies LEDA 3095839 and VII Zw 244 Based on Spectropolarimetric Observations

“…For this object we take value ϑ line = 1.5 × 10 3 km/s from Malygin et al [30] and calculate FW HM = 2.335 k −0.5 ϑ line . Here k ≈ 0.88 is the coefficient arising from the fact that in Malygin et al [30] ϑ line for this object referred to Hα line [29].…”

“…For a thorough analysis of the physical parameters previously (see [26]) for conducting spectropolarimetric observations on the 6 m BTA telescope and searching for signs of equatorial scattering, the main attention was paid to the sample of AGNs with SMBH masses measured by reverberation mapping approach (e.g., [28]). Within this work we decided to focus our attention on the AGNs examined earlier by our group in the Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SAO RAS) using the photometric reverberation mapping [29]. Currently, there are two type 1 AGN from that sample-LEDA 3095839 and VII Zw 244, where we have estimated the BLR size R BLR and, consequently, the SMBH masses (or so-called virial products, see Section 3.1.3) [30].…”

Stokes-polarimeter for 1-meter telescope

“…We used filters from the available set meant for studying the spectral energy distribution of ac-tive galaxies 1 . A description of the technique of reverberation mapping observations in interference filters and the first results can be found in Uklein et al [16]. It became clear in recent years that important information about the structure of central AGN regions can be obtained from BLR reverberation mapping in polarized light [15] and from high-precision photometric and polarimetric monitoring of BL Lac objects 2 [14].…”

Measurement of the Supermassive Black Hole Masses in Two Active Galactic Nuclei by the Photometric Reverberation Mapping Method

“…Since 2018 a photometric monitoring of an AGN sample predominantly at the 1-m Zeiss-1000 telescope of SAO RAS (Komarov et al, 2020) has been conducted within our reverberation mapping program. In this paper, we present the results of observations for the two brightest galaxies with broad lines from the sample under study (Uklein et al, 2019) OBSERVATIONS The characteristics of the studied galaxies are given in Table 1. Our observations were carried out with the SAO RAS telescopes: 1-m Zeiss-1000 and 6-m BTA.…”

“…Since 2018 a photometric monitoring of an AGN sample predominantly at the 1-m Zeiss-1000 telescope of SAO RAS (Komarov et al, 2020) has been conducted within our reverberation mapping program. In this paper, we present the results of observations for the two brightest galaxies with broad lines from the sample under study (Uklein et al, 2019), 2MASX Table 1: Characteristics of the AGNs being investigated. From left to right, the table gives: the object name, the epoch J2000 coordinates, the V magnitude, the redshift z, the emission line in which reverberation mapping is performed, and the filters from the SED set used for this purpose, where the number corresponds to the central filter transmission wavelength Object Coordinates (RA, Dec, J2000)…”