Long-Term Optical Continuum Color Variability of Nearby Active Galactic Nuclei

TL;DR

This study shows that the optical spectral shape of nearby active galactic nuclei remains consistent during flux variations, with observed color changes attributed to the varying dominance of the AGN's variable component over constant host galaxy and emission line contributions.

Contribution

It provides evidence that the optical continuum spectral shape of AGNs does not systematically change during flux variations, clarifying the origin of observed color variability.

Findings

Optical continuum spectral shape remains constant during flux changes.

Color variability is due to the changing dominance of variable and non-variable components.

Host galaxy and narrow emission lines are stable and do not affect spectral shape during flux variations.

Abstract

We examine whether the spectral energy distribution of optical continuum emission of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) changes during flux variation, based on accurate and frequent monitoring observations of 11 nearby Seyfert galaxies and QSOs carried out in the B, V, and I bands for seven years by the MAGNUM telescope. The multi-epoch flux data in any two different bands obtained on the same night show a very tight linear flux to flux relationship for all target AGNs. The flux of the host galaxy within the photometric aperture is carefully estimated by surface brightness fitting to available high-resolution HST images and MAGNUM images. The flux of narrow emission lines in the photometric bands is also estimated from available spectroscopic data. We find that the non-variable component of the host galaxy plus narrow emission lines for all target AGNs is located on the fainter extension of the linear regression line of multi-epoch flux data in the flux to flux diagram. This result strongly indicates that the spectral shape of AGN continuum emission in the optical region does not systematically change during flux variation. The trend of spectral hardening that optical continuum emission becomes bluer as it becomes brighter, which has been reported by many studies, is therefore interpreted as the domination of the variable component of the nearly constant spectral shape of an AGN as it brightens over the non-variable component of the host galaxy plus narrow lines, which is usually redder than AGN continuum emission.