Far-ultraviolet Spectroscopy of Active Galactic Nuclei with ASTROSAT/UVIT

Several evidences for the presence of accretion disks in Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) are reviewed, the main one being the spectral feature called “UV-bump”. The emission properties of accretion disks are briefly discussed, with special attention given to geometrically thin “standard” accretion disks, and it is shown that it should take place mainly in the EUV range. However, according to recent optical, UV and X-ray observations of AGN, a fraction of the observed optical-UV and X-ray continuum is reprocessed by the disk from a primary source, probably of hard X-ray continuum, sitting near the black hole and heating the farther regions of the disk. As a consequence, standard accretion disks are ruled out, and another type of model must be built

Various supernovae, compact object coalescences, and tidal disruption events are widely believed to occur embedded in active galactic nucleus (AGN) accretion disks and generate detectable electromagnetic signals. We collectively refer to them as AGN disk transients. The inelastic hadronuclear (pp) interactions between shock-accelerated cosmic rays and AGN disk materials shortly after the ejecta shock breaks out of the disk can produce high-energy neutrinos. However, the expected efficiency of neutrino production would decay rapidly by adopting a pure Gaussian density atmosphere profile applicable for stable gas-dominated disks. On the other hand, AGN outflows and disk winds are commonly found around AGN accretion disks. In this paper, we show that the circum-disk medium would further consume the shock kinetic energy to more efficiently produce high-energy neutrinos, especially for ∼ TeV−PeV neutrinos that IceCube detects. Thanks to the existence of the circum-disk medium, we find that the neutrino production will be enhanced significantly and make a much higher contribution to the diffuse neutrino background. Optimistically, ∼20% of the diffuse neutrino background can be contributed by AGN disk transients.

Neutron star mergers are believed to occur in accretion disks around supermassive black holes. Here we show that a putative jet launched from the merger of a binary neutron star (BNS) or a neutron star–black hole (NSBH) merger occurring at the migration trap in an active galactic nucleus (AGN) disk would be choked. The jet energy is deposited within the disk materials to power a hot cocoon. The cocoon is energetic enough to break out from the AGN disk and produce a bright X-ray shock breakout transient peaking at ∼0.15 days after the merger. The peak luminosity is estimated as , which can be discovered by the Einstein Probe from . Later on, the nonrelativistic ejecta launched from the merger would break out the disk, powering an X-ray/UV flare peaking at ∼0.5 days after the merger. This second shock breakout signal may be detected by UV transient searches. The cocoon cooling emission and kilonova emission are outshone by the disk emission and are difficult to detect. Future joint observations of gravitational waves from BNS/NSBH mergers and associated two shock breakout signatures can provide strong support for the compact binary coalescence formation channel in AGN disks.

view Abstract Citations References (26) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS Statistical Evidence for Accretion Disks in Active Galactic Nuclei Caditz, David Abstract Measured U - B colors and B-magnitudes are good indicators of the shape and strength of thermal continuum spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) over a limited range of redshifts, 0.4 < z < 0.75. The distribution of colors and magnitudes of a sample of 207 quasars is investigated. It is found that AGNs occupy a well-defined region of the color-magnitude plane defined by a low color limit and a magnitude- dependent high color limit. These limits are inherent in the quasar distribution and are not artificially introduced by survey selection effects or any known correlation between nonthermal spectral components and magnitude. Colors and magnitudes expected for thin accretion disks are calculated for a distribution of accretion rates and central masses. It is found that the standard thin accretion disk model accurately replicates the observed quasar color-magnitude distribution, and that the low and high color cutoffs are determined by the Eddington limit and a maximum central mass M ~ 10^9.5^ M_sun_, respectively. This result provides new evidence that accretion disks are the primary power source in AGNs. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: July 1993 DOI: 10.1086/172810 Bibcode: 1993ApJ...411..103C Keywords: Accretion Disks; Active Galactic Nuclei; Color-Magnitude Diagram; Red Shift; Statistical Analysis; Cataclysmic Variables; Gravitational Effects; Pre-Main Sequence Stars; T Tauri Stars; X Ray Binaries; Astrophysics; ACCRETION; ACCRETION DISKS; GALAXIES: ACTIVE; GALAXIES: NUCLEI full text sources ADS |

Orientation of parsec-scale accretion discs in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is likely to be nearly random for different black hole feeding episodes. Because AGN accretion discs are unstable to self-gravity on parsec scales, star formation in these discs will create young stellar discs, similar to those recently discovered in our Galactic Centre. The discs blend into the quasi-spherical star cluster enveloping the AGN on time-scales much longer than a likely AGN lifetime. Therefore, the gravitational potential within the radius of the black hole influence is at best axisymmetric rather than spherically symmetric. Here we show that, as a result, a newly formed accretion disc will be warped. For the simplest case of a potential resulting from a thin stellar ring, we calculate the disc precession rates, and the time-dependent shape. We find that, for a realistic parameter range, the disc becomes strongly warped in a few hundred orbital times. We suggest that this, and possibly other mechanisms of accretion disc warping, have a direct relevance to the problem of AGN obscuration, masing warped accretion discs, narrow Fe Ka lines, etc.

Extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) and intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals (IMRIs) are important gravitational-wave (GW) sources for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). So far, their formation and evolution have been considered to be independent. However, recent theories suggest that stellar-mass black holes (sBHs) and intermediate-mass black hole (IMBHs) can coexist in the accretion disk of an active galactic nucleus (AGN), which indicates that EMRIs and IMRIs may form in the same place. Motivated by the fact that a gas giant migrating in a protoplanetary disk could trap planetesimals close to its orbit, in this paper we study a similar interaction between a gap-opening IMBH in an AGN disk and the sBHs surrounding it. We analyze the torques imposed on the sBHs by the disk and also by the IMBH, and show that the sBHs can be trapped by the IMBH if they are inside the orbit of the IMBH. We then implement the torques in our numerical simulations to study the migration of an outer IMBH and an inner sBH, which are both embedded in an AGN disk. We find that their migration is synchronized until they reach a distance of about 10 Schwarzschild radii from the central supermassive black hole, where the pair break up due to strong GW radiation. This result indicates that LISA may detect an EMRI and an IMRI within several years from the same AGN. This GW source will bring rich information about the formation and evolution of sBHs and IMBHs in AGNs.

An increasing number of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) exhibit broad, double-peaked Balmer emission lines,which represent some of the best evidence for the existence of relatively large-scale accretion disks in AGNs. A set of 20 double-peaked emitters have been monitored for nearly a decade in order to observe long-term variations in the profiles of the double-peaked Balmer lines. Variations generally occur on timescales of years, and are attributed to physical changes in the accretion disk. Here we characterize the variability of a subset of seven double-peaked emitters in a model independent way. We find that variability is caused primarily by the presence of one or more discrete "lumps" of excess emission; over a timescale of a year (and sometimes less) these lumps change in amplitude and shape, but the projected velocity of these lumps changes over much longer timescales (several years). We also find that all of the objects exhibit red peaks that are stronger than the blue peak at some epochs and/or blueshifts in the overall profile, contrary to the expectations for a simple, circular accretion disk model, thus emphasizing the need for asymmetries in the accretion disk. Comparisons with two simple models, an elliptical accretion disk and a circular disk with a spiral arm, are unable to reproduce all aspects of the observed variability, although both account for some of the observed behaviors. Three of the seven objects have robust estimates of the black hole masses. For these objects the observed variability timescale is consistent with the expected precession timescale for a spiral arm, but incompatible with that of an elliptical accretion disk. We suggest that with the simple modification of allowing the spiral arm to be fragmented, many of the observed variability patterns could be reproduced.

Warm coronae, thick (τT = 10–20, where τT is the Thomson depth) Comptonizing regions with temperatures of ∼1 keV, are proposed to exist at the surfaces of accretion discs in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). By combining with the reflection spectrum, warm coronae may be responsible for producing the smooth soft excess seen in AGN X-ray spectra. This paper studies how a warm corona must adjust in order to sustain the soft excess through large changes in the AGN flux. Spectra from one-dimensional constant density and hydrostatic warm corona models are calculated assuming that the illuminating hard X-ray power law, gas density, Thomson depth, and coronal heating strength vary in response to changes in the accretion rate. We identify models that produce warm coronae with temperatures between 0.3 and 1.1 keV, and measure the photon indices and emitted fluxes in the 0.5–2 and 2–10 keV bands. Correlations and anticorrelations between these quantities depend on the evolution and structure of the warm corona. Tracing the path that an AGN follows through these correlations will constrain how warm coronae are heated and connected to the accretion disc. Variations in the density structure and coronal heating strength of warm coronae will lead to a variety of soft excess strengths and shapes in AGNs. A larger accretion rate will, on average, lead to a warm corona that produces a stronger soft excess, consistent with observations of local Seyfert galaxies.

White dwarfs (WDs) embedded in the gaseous disks of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can rapidly accrete materials from these disks and grow in mass to reach, or even exceed, the Chandrasekhar limit. Binary WD (BWD) mergers are also believed to occur in AGN accretion disks. We study observational signatures from these events. We suggest that mass-accreting WDs and BWD mergers in AGN disks can lead to thermonuclear explosions that drive an ejecta shock breakout from the disk surface and power a slow-rising, relatively dim Type Ia supernova (SN). It is possible that such SNe Ia may be outshone by the emission of the AGN disk around a supermassive black hole (BH) with a mass of M SMBH ≳ 108 M ⊙. In addition, accretion-induced collapses (AICs) of WDs in AGN disks may sometimes occur, which may form highly magnetized millisecond neutron stars (NSs). The subsequent spindown process of this nascent magnetar can deposit its rotational energy into the disk materials, resulting in a magnetar-driven shock breakout and a luminous magnetar-powered transient. We show that such an AIC event could power a rapidly evolving and luminous transient for a magnetic field of B ∼ 1015 G. The rising time and peak luminosity of the transient, powered by a magnetar with B ∼ 1014 G, are predicted to have similar properties to those of superluminous SNe. AIC events taking place in the inner parts of disks around relatively less massive supermassive BHs (M SMBH ≲ 108 M ⊙) are more likely to power transients that are much brighter than the AGN disk emission, and hence easily identified.

Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo are detecting a large number of binary stellar origin black hole (BH) mergers. A promising channel for accelerated BH merger lies in active galactic nucleus (AGN) discs of gas around supermasssive BHs. Here, we investigate the relative number of compact object (CO) mergers in AGN disc models, including BH, neutron stars (NS), and white dwarfs, via Monte Carlo simulations. We find the number of all merger types in the bulk disc grows ∝ t1/3 which is driven by the Hill sphere of the more massive merger component. Median mass ratios of NS–BH mergers in AGN discs are $\tilde{q}=0.07\pm 0.06(0.14\pm 0.07)$ for mass functions (MF) M−1(− 2). If a fraction fAGN of the observed rate of BH–BH mergers (RBH–BH) come from AGN, the rate of NS–BH (NS–NS) mergers in the AGN channel is ${R}_{\mathrm{ BH}\!-\!\mathrm{ NS}} \sim f_{\mathrm{ AGN}}[10,300]\, \rm {Gpc}^{-3}\, \rm {yr}^{-1},({\mathit{ R}}_{NS\!-\!NS} \le \mathit{ f}_{AGN}400\, \rm {Gpc}^{-3}\, \rm {yr}^{-1}$). Given the ratio of NS–NS/BH–BH LIGO search volumes, from preliminary O3 results the AGN channel is not the dominant contribution to observed NS–NS mergers. The number of lower mass gap events expected is a strong function of the nuclear MF and mass segregation efficiency. CO merger ratios derived from LIGO can restrict models of MF, mass segregation, and populations embedded in AGN discs. The expected number of electromagnetic (EM) counterparts to NS–BH mergers in AGN discs at z &amp;lt; 1 is $\sim [30,900]\, {\rm {yr}}^{-1}(f_{\mathrm{ AGN}}/0.1)$. EM searches for flaring events in large AGN surveys will complement LIGO constraints on AGN models and the embedded populations that must live in them.

X-ray quasiperiodic eruptions (QPEs) are a novel mode of variability in nearby galactic nuclei whose origin remains unknown. Their multiwavelength properties are poorly constrained, as studies have focused almost entirely on the X-ray band. Here, we report on time-resolved, coordinated Hubble Space Telescope far-ultraviolet (FUV) and XMM-Newton X-ray observations of the shortest period X-ray QPE source currently known, eRO-QPE2. We detect a bright UV point source (L FUV ≈ few × 1041 erg s−1) that does not show statistically significant variability between the X-ray eruption and quiescent phases. This emission is unlikely to be powered by a young stellar population in a nuclear stellar cluster. The X-ray-to-UV spectral energy distribution can be described by a compact accretion disk ( R out = 34 3 − 138 + 202 R g ). Such compact disks are incompatible with typical disks in active galactic nuclei, but form naturally following the tidal disruption of a star. Our results rule out models (for eRO-QPE2) invoking (i) a classic active galactic nucleus accretion disk and (ii) no accretion disk at all. For orbiter models, the expected radius derived from the timing properties would naturally lead to disk-orbiter interactions for both quasi-spherical and eccentric trajectories. We infer a black hole mass of log10(M BH) = 5.9 ± 0.3 M ⊙ and an Eddington ratio of 0.13 − 0.07 + 0.18 ; in combination with the compact outer radius, this is inconsistent with existing disk instability models. After accounting for the quiescent disk emission, we constrain the ratio of X-ray to FUV luminosity of the eruption component to be L X/L FUV &gt; 16−85 (depending on the intrinsic extinction).

Binary black hole (BBH) mergers are the primary sources of gravitational wave (GW) events detected by LIGO/Virgo. Binary black holes embedded in the accretion discs of active galactic nuclei (AGN) are possible candidates for such GW events. We have developed an idealised analytic model for the orbital evolution of BBHs in AGN accretion discs by combining the evolution equations of disc-binary interaction and GW inspiral. We investigated the coupled “disc+GW”-driven evolution of BBHs transitioning from the disc-driven regime at large orbital separations into the GW-driven regime at small separations. In this evolution channel, BBH mergers are accelerated by a combination of orbital decay and orbital eccentricity growth in the disc-dominated regime. We provide a quantification of the resulting merger timescale τmerger, and analyse its dependence on both the accretion disc and binary orbital parameters. By computing the evolution of the orbital eccentricity as a function of the GW frequency, we predict that most binaries in AGN discs should have significant residual eccentricities (e ∼ 0.01 − 0.1), potentially detectable by LISA. We further discuss the potentials and caveats of this particular BBH-in-AGN channel in the framework of binary evolutionary paths.

Recently the vertical structure of accretion disks has received much attention because of the available comparison with observations of the big blue bump, but all the calculations are based on the standard accretion disk model. In this paper we calculate the vertical structure and the emergent spectrum based on the radial structure of slim disks from the height-averaged equations. With the α-prescription of energy generation, we obtain the density profile as a Gaussian distribution, then solve the energy transfer problem in the z-direction. We find that the sub-Keplerian rotation affects the density profile in the z-direction. The advection process plays significant roles in the emergent spectrum, especially for high accretion rates. We show that there are two prominent characteristics of the spectrum: the presence of a maximum frequency in the emergent spectrum, which is very weakly dependent on the accretion rate, and a flattened component. These results are beyond the scope of explanation of the standard model of accretion disks even for the model with the modified blackbody spectrum. The present model is suitable for a wide range of disk parameters.

Is there spectropolarimetric evidence for accretion disks in Active Galactic Nuclei?

Active galactic nucleus (AGN) disks are widely considered potential hosts for various high-energy transients, including gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). The reactivation of GRB central engines can provide additional energy to shocks formed during the interaction of the initially ejected GRB jets with the circumburst material, commonly referred to as energy injections. In this paper, we study GRBs occurring in AGN disks within the context of energy injections. We adopt the standard external forward shock (EFS) model and consider both short- and long-duration GRB scenarios. Light curves for two types of radiation, namely, the radiation from the heated disk material (RHDM) and GRB afterglows, are computed. We find that the energy injection facilitates the EFS to break out from the photosphere of the low-density AGN disk at relativistic velocity. Moreover, the energy injection almost does not affect the RHDM but significantly enhances the peak flux of the GRB afterglows.