Kavli Affiliate: Luis C. Ho
| First 5 Authors: Minjin Kim, Suyeon Son, Luis C. Ho, ,
| Summary:
We investigate the optical variability of low-redshift ($0.15< zleq0.4$)
active galactic nuclei using the multi-epoch data from the Zwicky Transient
Facility. We find that a damped random walk model well describes the ensemble
structure function in the $g$ band. Consistent with previous studies, more
luminous active galactic nuclei tend to have a steeper structure function at a
timescale less than the break timescale and smaller variability amplitude. By
comparing the structure functions in the optical with the mid-infrared obtained
from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, we derive the size of the dusty
torus using a toy model for the geometry of the torus. The size of the torus
positively correlates with the luminosity of the active nucleus, following a
relation that agrees well with previous studies based on reverberation mapping.
This result demonstrates that the structure function method can be used as a
powerful and highly efficient tool to examine the size of the torus.
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