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Vivek Kumar Jha, Ravi Joshi, Jayesh Saraswat, Hum Chand, Sudhanshu Barway & Amit Kumar Mandal

Exploring the AGN Accretion Disks Using Continuum Reverberation Mapping

(Volume 93 - Année 2024 — No 2 - Proceeedings of the 3rd BINA Workshop on the Scientific Potential of the Indo-Belgian Cooperation)
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Abstract

In the innermost regions of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), matter is understood to be flowing onto the Supermassive black hole (SMBH), which forms an accretion disk. This disk is responsible for the optical/UV continuum emission observed in the spectra of AGN. Reverberation Mapping of the accretion disk using multiple bands can yield the structure of the disk. The emission is expected to be of the black body type peaking at different wavelengths. Hence, depending on the temperature of the disk, continuous, simultaneous monitoring in multiple wavelength ranges to cover hotter inner regions and cooler outer regions can yield the structure and temperature profile of the accretion disk itself. In this study, we present initial results from our accretion disk reverberation mapping campaign targeting AGN with Super High Eddington Accreting Black Holes (SEAMBH). Our analysis on one of the sources, IRAS 04416+1215, based on the broadband observations using the Growth India telescope (GIT), reveals that the size of the accretion disk for this source, calculated by cross-correlating the continuum light curves is larger than expected from the theoretical model. We fit the light curves directly using the thin disk model available in JAVELIN and find that the disk sizes are approximately four times larger than expected from the Shakura Sunyaev (SS) disk model. Further studies are needed to understand better the structure and physics of AGN accretion disks and their role in the evolution of galaxies.

Keywords : accretion, accretion discs, galaxies: active, galaxies: Seyfert, galaxies: nuclei, quasars: supermassive black holes

To cite this article

Vivek Kumar Jha, Ravi Joshi, Jayesh Saraswat, Hum Chand, Sudhanshu Barway & Amit Kumar Mandal, «Exploring the AGN Accretion Disks Using Continuum Reverberation Mapping», Bulletin de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège [En ligne], Volume 93 - Année 2024, No 2 - Proceeedings of the 3rd BINA Workshop on the Scientific Potential of the Indo-Belgian Cooperation, 766-779 URL : https://popups.ulg.ac.be/0037-9565/index.php?id=11871.

About: Vivek Kumar Jha

Aryabhatta Research Institute of observational sciences, Nainital 263001, India and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur 273009, India. Corresponding author: vivekjha.aries@gmail.com

About: Ravi Joshi

Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Koramangala, Bangalore 560034, India

About: Jayesh Saraswat

Department of Physics, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune 411007, India

About: Hum Chand

Department of Physics and Astronomical Sciences, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, Dharamshala 176215, India

About: Sudhanshu Barway

Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Koramangala, Bangalore 560034, India

About: Amit Kumar Mandal

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea