Science with a Small Two-Band UV-Photometry Mission III: Active Galactic Nuclei and Nuclear Transients
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11214_2024_Article_1062.pdf
Size
13 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
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Author(s)
Zajaček, M.
Czerny, B.
Jaiswal, V. K.
Štolc, M.
Karas, V.
Pandey, A.
Pasham, D. R.
Śniegowska, M.
Witzany, V.
Suková, P.
Date Issued
March 29, 2024
Journal
Space Science Reviews
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Space Science Reviews. 2024 Mar 29;220(3):29
Version
Final published version
Abstract
In this review, the third one in the series focused on a small two-band UV-photometry mission, we assess possibilities for a small UV two-band photometry mission in studying accreting supermassive black holes (SMBHs; mass range
∼
10
6
$\sim 10^{6}$
–
10
10
M
⊙
$10^{10}\,M_{\odot }$
). We focus on the following observational concepts: (i) dedicated monitoring of selected type-I Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) in order to measure the time delay between the far-UV, the near-UV, and other wavebands (X-ray and optical), (ii) nuclear transients including (partial) tidal disruption events and repetitive nuclear transients, and (iii) the study of peculiar sources, such as changing-look AGN, hollows and gaps in accretion disks, low-luminosity AGN, and candidates for Intermediate-Mass Black Holes (IMBHs; mass range
∼
10
2
$\sim 10^{2}$
–
10
5
M
⊙
$10^{5}\,M_{\odot }$
) in galactic nuclei. The importance of a small UV mission for the observing program (i) is to provide intense, high-cadence monitoring of selected sources, which will be beneficial for, e.g. reverberation-mapping of accretion disks and subsequently confronting accretion-disk models with observations. For program (ii), a relatively small UV space telescope is versatile enough to start monitoring a transient event within ≲ 20 minutes after receiving the trigger; such a moderately fast repointing capability will be highly beneficial. Peculiar sources within the program (iii) will be of interest to a wider community and will create an environment for competitive observing proposals. For tidal disruption events (TDEs), high-cadence UV monitoring is crucial for distinguishing among different scenarios for the origin of the UV emission. The small two-band UV space telescope will also provide information about the near- and far-UV continuum variability for rare transients, such as repetitive partial TDEs and jetted TDEs. We also discuss the possibilities to study and analyze sources with non-standard accretion flows, such as AGN with gappy disks, low-luminosity active galactic nuclei with intermittent accretion, and SMBH binaries potentially involving intermediate-mass black holes.
Subjects
Space and Planetary Science
Astronomy and Astrophysics
MIT Department
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-024-01062-5
