Exploratory X-Ray Monitoring of Luminous Radio-quiet Quasars at High Redshift: Extended Time-series Analyses and Stacked Imaging Spectroscopy

Abstract

Abstract We present three new Chandra X-ray epochs along with new ground-based optical–UV observations as the third installment in a time-series analysis of four high-redshift (z ≈ 4.1–4.4) radio-quiet quasars. In total, we present nine epochs for these sources with rest-frame temporal baselines of ∼1300–2000 days. We utilize the X-ray data to determine basic variability properties, as well as produce mean spectra and stacked images based on effective exposure times of ∼40–70 ks per source. We perform time-series analyses in the soft and hard bands, separately, and compare variability properties to those of sources at lower redshifts and luminosities. The magnitude of X-ray variability of our sources remains consistent with or lower than that of similar sources at lower redshifts, in agreement with the variability–luminosity anticorrelation. The mean power-law photon indices in the stacked Chandra spectra of our sources are consistent with the values measured from their archival XMM-Newton spectra separated by about 3 yr in the rest frame. Along with the X-ray observations, we provide near-simultaneous optical monitoring of the sources in the optical–UV regime. The overall variability in the optical-to-X-ray spectral slope is consistent with sources at lower redshifts, and the optical–UV observations display mild variability on monthly timescales.