How Can the Optical Variation Properties of Active Galactic Nuclei Be Unbiasedly Measured?

Abstract

The variability of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is ubiquitous, but has not yet been understood. Measuring the optical variation properties of AGNs, such as the variation timescale and amplitude, and then correlating them with their fundamental physical parameters has long served as a critical way of exploring the origin of AGN variability and the associated physics of the accretion process in AGNs. Obtaining accurate variation properties of AGNs is thus essential. It has been found that the damped random walk process can describe the AGN optical variation well, but there is a controversy over how long a minimal monitoring baseline is required to obtain unbiased variation properties. In this work, we settle the controversy by exhaustively scrutinizing the complex combination of assumed priors, adopted best-fit values, ensemble averaging methods, and fitting methods. The new proposal is then an optimized solution where unbiased variation properties of an AGN sample possessing the same variation timescale can be obtained with a minimal baseline of about 10 times their variation timescale. Finally, the new optimized solution is used to demonstrate the positive role of the time-domain surveys to be conducted by the Wide Field Survey Telescope in improving constraints on AGN variation properties.