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AGN STORM 2. VII. A Frequency-resolved Map of the Accretion Disk in Mrk 817: Simultaneous X-Ray Reverberation and UVOIR Disk Reprocessing Time Lags

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posted on 2025-06-30, 10:45 authored by Collin Lewin, Erin Kara, Aaron J Barth, Edward M Cackett, Gisella De Rosa, Yasaman Homayouni, Keith Horne, Gerard A Kriss, Hermine Landt, Jonathan Gelbord, John Montano, Nahum Arav, Misty C Bentz, Benjamin D Boizelle, Elena Dalla Bontà, Michael S Brotherton, Maryam Dehghanian, Gary J Ferland, Carina Fian, Michael GoadMichael Goad, Juan V Hernández Santisteban, Dragana Ilić, Jelle Kaastra, Shai Kaspi, Kirk T Korista, Peter Kosec, Andjelka Kovačević, Missagh Mehdipour, Jake A Miller, Hagai Netzer, Jack MM Neustadt, Christos Panagiotou, Ethan R Partington, Luka Č. Popović, David Sanmartim, Marianne Vestergaard, Martin J Ward, Fatima Zaidouni

X-ray reverberation mapping is a powerful technique for probing the innermost accretion disk, whereas continuum reverberation mapping in the UV, optical, and infrared (UVOIR) reveals reprocessing by the rest of the accretion disk and broad-line region (BLR). We present the time lags of Mrk 817 as a function of temporal frequency measured from 14 months of high-cadence monitoring from Swift and ground-based telescopes, in addition to an XMM-Newton observation, as part of the AGN STORM 2 campaign. The XMM-Newton lags reveal the first detection of a soft lag in this source, consistent with reverberation from the innermost accretion flow. These results mark the first simultaneous measurement of X-ray reverberation and UVOIR disk reprocessing lags—effectively allowing us to map the entire accretion disk surrounding the black hole. Similar to previous continuum reverberation mapping campaigns, the UVOIR time lags arising at low temporal frequencies are longer than those expected from standard disk reprocessing by a factor of 2–3. The lags agree with the anticipated disk reverberation lags when isolating short-timescale variability, namely timescales shorter than the Hβ lag. Modeling the lags requires additional reprocessing constrained at a radius consistent with the BLR size scale inferred from contemporaneous Hβ-lag measurements. When we divide the campaign light curves, the UVOIR lags show substantial variations, with longer lags measured when obscuration from an ionized outflow is greatest. We suggest that, when the obscurer is strongest, reprocessing by the BLR elongates the lags most significantly. As the wind weakens, the lags are dominated by shorter accretion disk lags.

History

Author affiliation

College of Science & Engineering Physics & Astronomy

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Published in

The Astrophysical Journal

Volume

974

Issue

2

Pagination

271 - 271

Publisher

American Astronomical Society

issn

0004-637X

eissn

1538-4357

Copyright date

2024

Available date

2025-06-30

Language

en

Deposited by

Dr Michael Goad

Deposit date

2025-05-23

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