Photometric Reverberation Mapping of the Broad Emission Line Region in Quasars

TL;DR

This paper introduces a photometric method for measuring the size of the broad emission line region in quasars, validated through simulations and comparison with spectroscopic data, enabling large-scale black hole mass estimates.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel photometric reverberation mapping technique for quasars, offering a feasible alternative to spectroscopic methods for large surveys.

Findings

Photometric method agrees with spectroscopic reverberation mapping results.

Simulations highlight advantages and potential pitfalls of the approach.

Method enables BLR size and black hole mass measurements from broadband data.

Abstract

A method is proposed for measuring the size of the broad emission line region (BLR) in quasars using broadband photometric data. A feasibility study, based on numerical simulations, points to the advantages and pitfalls associated with this approach. The method is applied to a subset of the Palomar-Green quasar sample for which independent BLR size measurements are available. An agreement is found between the results of the photometric method and the spectroscopic reverberation mapping technique. Implications for the measurement of BLR sizes and black hole masses for numerous quasars in the era of large surveys are discussed.