Fractional Variability Amplitude Research Articles

No Strong Geometric Beaming in the Ultraluminous Neutron Star Binary NGC 300 ULX-1 (SN 2010da) from Swift and Gemini

Abstract We have obtained near-simultaneous Swift/XRT imaging and Gemini GMOS spectroscopy for the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) NGC 300 ULX-1 (formerly designated SN 2010da). The observed X-ray emission is consistent with an inhomogeneous wind that partially obscures a central, bright inner accretion disk. We simultaneously fit eleven 0.3–10 keV spectra obtained over a ∼1 year time period (2016 April to 2017 July) using the same partial covering model and find that although the covering fraction varies significantly (from 78% to consistent with 0%), the unabsorbed luminosity remains essentially constant across all observations ((2–6) × 1039 erg s−1). A relatively high 0.3–10 keV fractional variability amplitude (F var) of ∼30% is observed in all 11 observations. Optical spectra from Gemini exhibit numerous emission lines (e.g., Hα, Hβ, He ii λ4686), which suggest that the neutron star primary is photoionizing material in the immediate vicinity of the binary. We compare the He ii λ4686 line luminosity (∼(7–9) × 1035 erg s−1) to the contemporaneous soft X-ray emission and find the X-ray emission is broadly consistent with the observed He ii line luminosity. The combination of our X-ray observations and optical spectroscopy suggest that geometric beaming effects in the ULX-1 system are minimal, making ULX-1 one of only a few bona fide ULXs to be powered by accretion onto a neutron star.

X-ray Intraday Variability of the TeV Blazar Mrk 421 with Chandra

We present an extensive study of 72 archival Chandra light curves of the high-frequency-peaked type blazar Mrk 421, the first strong extragalactic object to be detected at TeV energies. Between 2000 and 2015 Mrk 421 often displayed intraday variability in the 0.3-10.0 keV energy range, as quantified through fractional variability amplitudes that range up to 21.3 per cent. A variability duty cycle of ~84 per cent is present in these data. Variability timescales, with values ranging from 5.5 to 30.5 ks, appear to be present in seven of these observations. Discrete correlation function analyses show positive correlations between the soft (0.3-2.0 keV) and hard (2.0-10.0 keV) X-ray energy bands with zero time lags, indicating that very similar electron populations are responsible for the emission of all the X-rays observed by Chandra. The hardness ratios of this X-ray emission indicate a general "harder-when-brighter" trend in the spectral behaviour of Mrk 421. Spectral index-flux plots provide model independent indications of the spectral evolution of the source and information on the X-ray emission mechanisms. Brief discussions of theoretical models that are consistent with these observations are given.

X-Ray Quasi-periodic Oscillations in the Lense–Thirring Precession Model. I. Variability of Relativistic Continuum

Abstract We develop a Monte Carlo code to compute the Compton-scattered X-ray flux arising from a hot inner flow that undergoes Lense–Thirring precession. The hot flow intercepts seed photons from an outer truncated thin disk. A fraction of the Comptonized photons will illuminate the disk, and the reflected/reprocessed photons will contribute to the observed spectrum. The total spectrum, including disk thermal emission, hot flow Comptonization, and disk reflection, is modeled within the framework of general relativity, taking light bending and gravitational redshift into account. The simulations are performed in the context of the Lense–Thirring precession model for the low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations, so the inner flow is assumed to precess, leading to periodic modulation of the emitted radiation. In this work, we concentrate on the energy-dependent X-ray variability of the model and, in particular, on the evolution of the variability during the spectral transition from hard to soft state, which is implemented by the decrease of the truncation radius of the outer disk toward the innermost stable circular orbit. In the hard state, where the Comptonizing flow is geometrically thick, the Comptonization is weakly variable with a fractional variability amplitude of ≤10%; in the soft state, where the Comptonizing flow is cooled down and thus becomes geometrically thin, the fractional variability of the Comptonization is highly variable, increasing with photon energy. The fractional variability of the reflection increases with energy, and the reflection emission for low spin is counterintuitively more variable than the one for high spin.

Flaring radio lanterns along the ridge line: long-term oscillatory motion in the jet of S5 1803+784

We present a detailed analysis of 30 very long baseline interferometric observations of the BL Lac object S5 1803+784 (z=0.679), obtained between mean observational time 1994.67 and 2012.91 at observational frequency 15 GHz. The long-term behaviour of the jet ridge line reveals the jet experiences an oscillatory motion superposed on its helical jet kinematics on a time-scale of about 6 years. The excess variance of the positional variability indicates the jet components being farther from the VLBI core have larger amplitude in their position variations. The fractional variability amplitude shows slight changes in 3-year bins of the component's position. The temporal variability in the Doppler boosting of the ridge line results in jet regions behaving as flaring "radio lanterns". We offer a qualitative scenario leading to the oscillation of the jet ridge line, that utilizes the orbital motion of the jet emitter black hole due to a binary black hole companion. A correlation analysis implies composite origin of the flux variability of the jet components, emerging due to possibly both the evolving jet-structure and its intrinsic variability.

Coronal Proerties of the Seyfert 1 Galaxy 3C 120 with NuSTAR

Abstract We present a measurement of the cut-off energy, a proxy for the temperature of the corona in the nuclear continuum of the Seyfert 1 galaxy 3C 120 using ∼120 ks of observation from NuSTAR. The quality broadband spectrum from 3–79 keV enabled us to measure the Compton reflection component (R) and to constrain the temperature of the coronal plasma. Fitting one of the advanced Comptonization models, compPS, to the observed broadband spectrum, we derived the kinetic temperature of the electrons in the corona to be kT e = 25 ± 2 keV with a Compton y parameter of y = 2.2 ± 0.1 for a slab geometry and keV with a y of assuming a spherical geometry. We noticed excess emission from ∼10–35 keV arising due to Compton reflection and a broad Fe Kα line at 6.43 keV with an equivalent width of 60 ± 5 eV. The variations in count rates in the soft (3–10 keV) band are found to be larger compared to the hard (10–79 keV) band, with mean fractional variability amplitudes of 0.065 ± 0.002 and 0.052 ± 0.003 for the soft and hard bands respectively. 3C 120 is known to have a strong jet; however, our results indicate that it is either dormant or its contribution, if any, to the X-ray emission is negligible during the epoch of NuSTAR observation.

Study on Variability and Spectral Properties of Blazar 3C 273 with Long-term Multi-band Optical Monitoring from 2006 to 2015

We present long-term optical multi-band photometric monitoring of blazar 3C 273, from 2006 May 19 to 2015 March 31 with high temporal resolution in the BVRI bands. The source is in a steady state and showed very small variability, with the values of the fractional variability amplitude of , , and in B, V, R and I, respectively. The intra-night point-to-point fractional variability (Fpp) in each band is below 1.0%, and the Fpp variation amplitude increase from the B-band to the I-band. We find a variability with the timescale of 5.8 ± 2.9 minutes in the I-band on 2009 March 11. This fast variability requires the comoving magnetic field strength in the jet above 18 G with a Doppler factor . Using the discrete correlation function (DCF), the B- and I-band light curves are examined for correlation on whole campaign. Low significance (∼99.73 percent confidence) correlations with the I-band lags the B-band variations are observed. The spectral behaviors in the different variability episodes are studied. “Bluer-when-brighter” spectral behavior is presented for the whole campaign, while there is an opposite tendency when . The weak of the correlation between B- and I-band and the spectrum analysis indicate that the optical radiation consists of two variable components.

Energy-dependent variability of the bare Seyfert 1 galaxy Ark 120

We present results from a detailed spectral-timing analysis of a long ∼486 ks XMM–Newton observation of the bare Seyfert 1 galaxy Ark 120 which showed alternating diminution and increment in the 0.3–10 keV X-ray flux over four consecutive orbits in 2014. We study the energy-dependent variability of Ark 120 through broad-band X-ray spectroscopy, fractional root-mean-squared (rms) spectral modelling, hardness–intensity diagram and flux–flux analysis. The X-ray (0.3–10 keV) spectra are well fitted by a thermally Comptonized primary continuum with two (blurred and distant) reflection components and an optically thick, warm Comptonization component for the soft X-ray excess emission below ∼2 keV. During the first and third observations, the fractional X-ray variability amplitude decreases with energy while for second and fourth observations, X-ray variability spectra are found to be inverted-crescent and crescent shaped, respectively. The rms variability spectra are well modelled by two constant reflection components, a soft excess component with variable luminosity and a variable intrinsic continuum with the normalization and spectral slope being correlated. The spectral softening of the source with both the soft excess and UV luminosities favours Comptonization models where the soft excess and primary X-ray emission are produced through Compton up-scattering of the UV and UV/soft X-ray seed photons in the putative warm and hot coronae, respectively. Our analyses imply that the observed energy-dependent variability of Ark 120 is most likely due to variations in the spectral shape and luminosity of the hot corona and to variations in the luminosity of the warm corona, both of which are driven by variations in the seed photon flux.

Optical polarization of high-energy BL Lacertae objects

We investigate the optical polarization properties of high-energy BL Lac objects using data from the RoboPol blazar monitoring program and the Nordic Optical Telescope. We wish to understand if there are differences in the BL Lac objects that are detected with the current-generation TeV instruments compared to those that have not yet been detected. The mean polarization fraction of the TeV-detected BL Lacs is 5% while the non-TeV sources show a higher mean polarization fraction of 7%. This difference in polarization fraction disappears when the dilution by the unpolarized light of the host galaxy is accounted for. The TeV sources show somewhat lower fractional polarization variability amplitudes than the non-TeV sources. Also the fraction of sources with a smaller spread in the Q/I - U/I -plane and a clumped distribution of points away from the origin, possibly indicating a preferred polarization angle, is larger in the TeV than in the non-TeV sources. These differences between TeV and non-TeV samples seems to arise from differences between intermediate and high spectral peaking sources instead of the TeV detection. When the EVPA variations are studied, the rate of EVPA change is similar in both samples. We detect significant EVPA rotations in both TeV and non-TeV sources, showing that rotations can occur in high spectral peaking BL Lac objects when the monitoring cadence is dense enough. Our simulations show that we cannot exclude a random walk origin for these rotations. These results indicate that there are no intrinsic differences in the polarization properties of the TeV-detected and non-TeV-detected high-energy BL Lac objects. This suggests that the polarization properties are not directly related to the TeV-detection, but instead the TeV loudness is connected to the general flaring activity, redshift, and the synchrotron peak location. (Abridged)

Intranight optical variability of radio-quiet weak emission line quasars – IV

We report an extension of our program to search for radio-quiet BL Lac candidates using intra-night optical variability (INOV) as a probe. The present INOV observations cover a well-defined representative set of 10 `radio-quiet weak-emission-line quasars' (RQWLQs), selected from a newly published sample of 46 such sources, derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (Data release 7). Intra-night CCD monitoring of the 10 RQWLQs was carried out in 18 sessions lasting at least 3.5 hours. For each session, differential light curves (DLCs) of the target RQWLQ were derived relative to two steady comparison stars monitored simultaneously. Combining these new data with those already published by us for 15 RQWLQs monitored in 30 sessions, we estimate an INOV duty cycle of $\sim 3\%$ for the RQWLQs, which appears inconsistent with BL Lacs. However, the observed INOV events (which occurred in just two of the sessions) are strong (with a fractional variability amplitude $\psi >$ 10\%), hence blazar-like. We briefly point out the prospects of an appreciable rise in the estimated INOV duty cycle for RQWLQs with a relatively modest increase in sensitivity for monitoring these rather faint objects.

Accretion disc–corona and jet emission from the radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy RX J1633.3+4719

We perform X-ray/ultraviolet (UV) spectral and X-ray variability studies of the radio-loud narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxy RX J1633.3+4719 using XMM-Newton and Suzaku observations from 2011 and 2012. The 0.3-10 keV spectra consist of an ultrasoft component described by an accretion disc blackbody (kT_in = 39.6^{+11.2}_{-5.5} eV) and a power law due to the thermal Comptonization ({\Gamma} = 1.96^{+0.24}_{-0.31}) of the disc emission. The disc temperature inferred from the soft excess is at least a factor of 2 lower than that found for the canonical soft excess emission from radio-quiet NLS1s. The UV spectrum is described by a power law with photon index 3.05^{+0.56}_{-0.33}. The observed UV emission is too strong to arise from the accretion disc or the host galaxy, but can be attributed to a jet. The X-ray emission from RX J1633.3+4719 is variable with fractional variability amplitude $F_{\rm var}$=13.5$\pm1.0$ per cent. In contrast to radio-quiet active galactic nuclei (AGN), X-ray emission from the source becomes harder with increasing flux. The fractional rms variability increases with energy and the rms spectrum is well described by a constant disc component and a variable power-law continuum with the normalization and photon index being anticorrelated. Such spectral variability cannot be caused by variations in the absorption and must be intrinsic to the hot corona. Our finding of possible evidence for emission from the inner accretion disc, jet and hot corona from RX J1633.3+4719 in the optical to X-ray bands makes this object an ideal target to probe the disc-jet connection in AGN.

First hard X-ray observations of the blazar S5 0716+714 withNuSTARduring a multiwavelength campaign

We report the results of a multifrequency campaign targeting S5 0716+714 in the flaring state of the source observed in 2015 January and February. The observations have been performed using the following instruments: Fermi/Large Area Telescope (LAT), Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, X-ray Telescope and Ultraciolet/Optical Telescope. The elevated flux level was visible in all frequencies and the outburst consists of five sub-flares. In this paper we focus on the analysis of the X-ray observations both in the soft and hard regimes for data collected with NuStar and Swift/XRT. This is the first time, when hard X-ray observations of the source collected with NuStar are reported. The studies reveal both low- and high-energy components clearly visible in the energy band, with the break energy of 8 keV, which is the highest break energy ever reported for S5 0716+714. The second part of this work is concentrated on multifrequency observations collected during the flaring activity period. The variability patterns recorded during the period are characterized using a fractional variability amplitude and description of the flare profiles. The correlation studies reveal strong and significant relation between the optical, ultraviolet and gamma-ray observations, and no time lag is found for any of the studied relations.

X-ray/UV variability and the origin of soft X-ray excess emission from II Zw 177

We study X-ray and UV emission from the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy II~Zw~177 using a $137\ks$ long and another $13\ks$ short \xmm{} observation performed in 2012 and 2001, respectively. Both observations show soft X-ray excess emission contributing $76.9\pm4.9\%$ in 2012 and $58.8\pm10.2\%$ in 2001 in the $0.3-2\kev$ band. We find that both blurred reflection from an ionized disc and Comptonized disc emission describe the observed soft excess well. Time-resolved spectroscopy on scales of $\sim20\ks$ reveals strong correlation between the soft excess and the powerlaw components. The fractional variability amplitude $F_{var}$ derived from EPIC-pn lightcurves at different energy bands is nearly constant ($F_{var} \sim20\%$). This is in contrast to other AGNs where the lack of short term variation in soft X-ray excess emission has been attributed to intense light bending in the framework of the "lamppost" model. Thus, the variations in powerlaw emission are most likely intrinsic to corona rather than just due to the changes of height of compact corona. The variable UV emission ($F_{var} \sim 1\%$) is uncorrelated to any of the X-ray components on short timescales suggesting that the UV emission is not dominated by the reprocessed emission. The gradual observed decline in the UV emission in 2012 may be related to the secular decline due to the changes in the accretion rate. In this case, the short term X-ray variability is not due to the changes in the seed photons but intrinsic to the hot corona.

Pan-STARRS1 variability of XMM-COSMOS AGN

[Abbreviated] Upcoming large area sky surveys like EUCLID and eROSITA crucially depend on accurate photometric redshifts (photo-z). The identification of variable sources, such as AGNs, and the achievable redshift accuracy for varying objects are important in view of the science goals of the EUCLID and eROSITA missions. We probe AGN optical variability for a large sample of X-ray-selected AGNs in the XMM-COSMOS field, using the light curves provided by the Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) 3pi and MDF04 surveys. Utilizing two different variability parameters, we defined a sample of varying AGNs for every PS1 band. We investigated the influence of variability on the calculation of photo-z by applying three different input photometry sets for our fitting procedure. For each of the five PS1 bands, we chose either the epochs minimizing the interval in observing time, the median magnitude values, or randomly drawn light curve points to compute the redshift. In addition, we derived photo-z using PS1 photometry extended by GALEX/IRAC bands. We find that the photometry produced by the 3pi survey is sufficient to reliably detect variable sources provided that the fractional variability amplitude is at least 3%. Considering the photo-z of variable AGNs, we observe that minimizing the time spacing of the chosen points yields superior photo-z in terms of the percentage of outliers (33%) and accuracy (0.07), outperforming the other two approaches. Drawing random points from the light curve gives rise to typically 57% of outliers and an accuracy of 0.4. Adding GALEX/IRAC bands for the redshift determination weakens the influence of variability. Although the redshift quality generally improves when adding these bands, we still obtain not less than 26% of outliers and an accuracy of 0.05 at best, therefore variable sources should receive a flag stating that their photo-z may be low quality.

Long-term optical-infrared color variability of blazars

The long-term optical and infrared color variability of blazars has been investigated with monitoring data from the Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS). The sample in this study consists of 49 flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) and 22 BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs). The fractional variability amplitudes of each source have been calculated in both optical R band and infrared J band. Overall, the variability amplitudes of FSRQs are larger than those of BL Lacs. The results also suggest that the variability amplitude of most FSRQs is larger at a lower energy band (J band) than at a higher one (R band), but the variability amplitude of BL Lacs is larger at the higher energy band. Both types of blazars display color variation along with variability in brightness. However, they show different variation behaviors in general. In the whole data set, 35 FSRQs exhibit redder-when-brighter trends, and 11 FSRQs exhibit opposite trends; 11 BL Lacs follow bluer-when-brighter trends, and seven BL Lacs follow opposite trends. A detailed examination indicates that there are 10 blazars showing redder-when-brighter trends in their low state, and bluer-when-brighter or stable-when-brighter trends in their high state. Some more complicated color behaviors have also been detected in several blazars. The non-thermal jet emission and the thermal emission from the accretion disk are employed to explain the observed color behaviors.

X-RAY VARIABILITY AND THE INNER REGION IN ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

We present theoretical models of X-ray variability attributable to orbital signatures from an accretion disk including emission region size, quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) and its quality factor $Q$, and the emergence of a break frequency in the power spectral density shape. We find a fractional variability amplitude of $F_{var}\propto M^{-0.4}_{\bullet}$. We conduct a time series analysis on X-ray light curves ($0.3-10$ keV) of a sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). A statistically significant bend frequency is inferred in 9 of 58 light curves (16 %) from 3 AGNs for which the break timescale is consistent with the reported BH spin but not with the reported BH mass. Upper limits of $2.85 \times 10^7 M_\odot$ in NGC 4051, $8.02 \times 10^7 M_\odot$ in MRK 766 and $4.68 \times 10^7 M_\odot$ in MCG-6-30-15 are inferred for maximally spinning BHs. For REJ 1034+396, where a QPO at 3733 s was reported, we obtain an emission region size of $(6 - 6.5) M$ and a BH spin $a\lesssim$ 0.08. The relativistic inner region of a thin disk, dominated by radiation pressure and electron scattering is likely to host the orbital features as the simulated $Q$ ranges from $6.3 \times 10^{-2}$ to $4.25 \times 10^6$, containing the observed $Q$. The derived value of $Q \sim$ 32 for REJ 1034+396 therefore suggests that the AGN hosts a thin disk.

Study of X-ray and γ-ray flare from Mkn-421 during February 2010 using Swift and Fermi observations

In this work, we report on the intense flaring activity from Mkn-421 in X-ray and γ-ray regimes simultaneously observed by Swift-XRT/BAT and Fermi-LAT satellite telescopes in February 2010. With the aim of understanding the underlying physics of the flaring state in Mkn-421, we have performed a detailed spectral analysis of Swift/XRT and Fermi/LAT observations of Mkn-421 during February 12–25, 2010 (MJD 55239–55252). Over this period, we study the daily light curves and spectral variability of the source in 1–10keV, 0.1–1GeV and 1–100GeV energy bands. We have performed the spectral analysis of Swift-XRT and Fermi/LAT observations to study the spectral evolution in the X-ray and gamma-ray energy domains respectively. We also compute the fractional variability amplitude in both the energy bands during the above period. We study trends between spectral parameters and physical insights provided by the parameter responsible for X-ray and γ-ray emission from the source. We search for energetic features phenomenologically linked to the single zone SSC model for blazar emission. We also produce the broad band SED with a leptonic single zone SSC model for the source.

BLAZAR 3C 454.3 IN OUTBURST AND QUIESCENCE DURING 2005-2007: TWO VARIABLE SYNCHROTRON EMISSION PEAKS

We monitored the flaring blazar 3C 454.3 during 2005 June-July with the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph (IRS: 15 epochs), Infrared Array Camera (IRAC: 12 epochs) and Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS: 2 epochs). We also made Spitzer IRS, IRAC, and MIPS observations from 2006 December-2007 January when the source was in a low state, the latter simultaneous with a single Chandra X-ray observation. In addition, we present optical and sub-mm monitoring data. The 2005-2007 period saw 3 major outbursts. We present evidence that the radio-optical SED actually consists of two variable synchrotron peaks, the primary at IR and the secondary at sub-mm wavelengths. The lag between the optical and sub-mm outbursts may indicate that these two peaks arise from two distinct regions along the jet separated by a distance of 0.07-5 pc. The flux at 5-35 microns varied by a factor of 40 and the IR peak varied in frequency from <1E13 Hz to 4E13 Hz between the highest and lowest states in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Variability was well correlated across the mid-IR band, with no measurable lag. Flares that doubled in flux occurred on a time scale of 3 days. The IR SED peak moved to higher frequency as a flare brightened, then returned to lower frequency as it decayed. The fractional variability amplitude increased with frequency, which we attribute to decreasing synchrotron-self absorption optical depth. Mid-IR flares may signal the re-energization of a shock that runs into inhomogeneities along the pre-existing jet or in the external medium. The synchrotron peak frequencies during each major outburst may depend upon both the distance from the jet apex and the physical conditions in the shocks. Variation of the Doppler parameter along a curved or helical jet is another possibility. Frequency variability of the IR synchrotron peak may have important consequences for the interpretation of the blazar sequence, and the presence of a secondary peak may give insight into jet structure.

Associated spectral and temporal state transition of the bright ULX NGC 1313 X-1

(Abridged) Stellar mass black hole X-ray binaries exhibit X-ray spectral states which also have distinct and characteristic temporal properties. These states are believed to correspond to different accretion disk geometries. We present analysis of two long XMM-Newton observations of the Ultra-Luminous X-ray source (ULX) NGC 1313 X-1, which reveal that the system was in two different spectral/temporal states. With a count rate of 1.5 counts/s and a fractional variability amplitude of ~15%, the ULX was in a high flux and strongly variable state in March 2006. In October 2006, the count rate of the ULX had reduced by a factor of ~2 and the spectral shape was distinctly different with the presence of a soft component. No strong variability was detected during this low flux state with an upper limit on the amplitude < 3%. Moreover, the spectral properties of the two states implies that the accretion disk geometry was different for them. The low flux state is consistent with a model where a standard accretion disk is truncated at a radius of ~17 Schwarzschild radius around a ~200 Msun black hole. The inner hot region Comptonizes photons from the outer disk to give the primary spectral component. The spectrum of the high flux state is not compatible with such a geometry. Instead, it is consistent with a model where a hot corona covers a cold accretion disk and Comptonizes the disk photons. The variability as a function of energy is also shown to be consistent with the corona model. Despite these broad analogies with Galactic black hole systems, the spectral nature of the ULX is distinct in having a colder Comptonizing temperature (~2 keV) and higher optical depth (~15) than what is observed for the Galactic ones.

THE FLUX-DEPENDENT RMS VARIABILITY OF X-RAY BINARIES IN THE OPTICAL

A linear relation between absolute rms variability and flux in X-ray observations of compact accreting sources has recently been identified. Such a relation suggests that X-ray light curves are nonlinear and composed of a lognormal distribution of fluxes. Here, a first investigation of the optical rms versus flux behavior in X-ray binaries is presented. Fast timing data on three binaries in the X-ray low/hard state are examined. These are XTE J1118+480, GX 339–4, and SWIFT J1753.5–0129—all show aperiodic (nonreprocessed) optical fluctuation components. Optical rms amplitude is found to increase with flux in all sources. A linear fit results in a positive offset along the flux axis, for most frequency ranges investigated. The X-ray and optical relation slopes track the source fractional variability amplitudes. This is especially clear in the case of GX 339–4, which has the largest optical variance of the three targets. Nonlinearity is supported in all cases by the fact that flux distributions of the optical light curves are better described with a lognormal function than a simple Gaussian. Significant scatter around linearity is found in the relation for the two sources with lower optical variability amplitude, though observational biases may well contribute to this. Implications for accretion models are discussed, and the need for long well sampled optical light curves is emphasized.

A NEWXMM-NEWTONLONG LOOK OF THE LOW-LUMINOSITY ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEUS NGC 3226

We present the results of a 99 ks XMM-Newton observation of NGC 3226, a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus. The long exposure has enabled us to critically test several models for the form of the 0.3-10 keV spectrum. We find the 0.3-10 keV spectrum is best fitted by a partial-covering model, consisting of a power-law continuum (Γ ≈ 1.87) absorbed at low energies by neutral material in excess of the Galactic column (N H≈3 × 1021 cm–2) with a covering fraction near 90%. We conclusively reject (1) a single-temperature thermal bremsstrahlung model and (2) a partial-covering model including absorption by moderately ionized material with a column density N W > 1.1 × 1020 cm–2. We find no significant evidence for an Fe Kα emission line or any other strong emission or absorption features. The lack of a strong observed Fe K edge and the low accretion rate relative to Eddington, , suggest NGC 3226 hosts an optically thin, geometrically thick accretion disk consistent with radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) models. We find significant flux variation during the observation on timescales of 1 day. The fractional variability amplitude F var is measured to be 11.7 ± 0.6%, which is comparable to values found for Seyferts of similar black hole mass. We also present spectral fits for 22 additional X-ray sources within the XMM-Newton EPIC camera field of view.