Kavli Affiliate: Erin Kara
| First 5 Authors: Tingting Liu, Rick Edelson, Juan V. Hernández Santisteban, Erin Kara, John Montano
| Summary:
We present an intensive multiwavelength monitoring campaign of the quasar PG
1302$-$102 with Swift and the Las Cumbres Observatory network telescopes. At
$zsim0.3$, it tests the limits of the reverberation mapping (RM) technique in
probing the accretion disk around a supermassive black hole (SMBH) and extends
the parameter space to high masses and high accretion rates. This is also the
first time the RM technique has been applied to test disk structures predicted
in the SMBH binary model that has been suggested for this source. PG 1302$-$102
was observed at a $sim$daily cadence for $sim 9$ months in 14 bands spanning
from X-ray to UV and optical wavelengths, and it shows moderate to significant
levels of variability correlated between wavelengths. We measure the inter-band
time lags which are consistent with a $tau propto lambda^{4/3}$ relation as
expected from standard disk reprocessing, albeit with large errors. The disk
size implied by the lag spectrum is consistent with the expected disk size for
its black hole mass within uncertainties. While the source resembles other
reverberation-mapped AGN in many respects, and we do not find evidence
supporting the prevalent hypothesis that it hosts an SMBH binary, we
demonstrate the feasibility of studying SMBH binaries from this novel angle and
suggest possibilities for the LSST Deep Drilling Fields.
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