Recent Swift observations of 4 medium mass AGN show that UV/optical variationslag higher energies as expected from reprocessing of high energies by anaccretion disc. However the measured disc sizes are 3x larger than expected fromtheory and in 2 AGN the X-rays lead the UV by more than expected. It is alsounclear whether earlier poor X-ray/optical correlations in high accretion rate(mdot) AGN are just due to inadequate sampling. We have recently shown that, forlow masses, XMM can measure the crucial X-ray/UV lag and correlation strengthvery simply. Here we request to observe 4 low mass AGN with a range of mdot tomeasure that crucial lag and, from the ground, also the X-ray/g-band lag, sothat the above problems, and any variation with mass or mdot can be properly understood.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2017-06-02T20:43:18Z/2017-06-05T15:21:18Z
Version
17.56_20190403_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earths atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.
European Space Agency, Prof Ian McHardy, 2018, 'X-RAY-UV-OPTICAL REVERBERATION MAPPING OF LOW MASS AGN', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-ee6vbby
