Detection of Time Lags Between Quasar Continuum Emission Bands based on Pan-STARRS Light-curves

TL;DR

This study measures time delays between different wavelength emissions in quasars using Pan-STARRS data, revealing larger-than-expected accretion disk sizes and suggesting modifications to the standard thin disk model.

Contribution

It provides new observational evidence of quasar continuum lags across multiple bands, challenging existing accretion disk models and highlighting the influence of metallicity on disk structure.

Findings

Detected typical lags of 2-3 days in the rest frame.

Lags are 2-3 times larger than standard model predictions.

Lags increase with luminosity and decrease with higher metallicity.

Abstract

We study the time lags between the continuum emission of quasars at different wavelengths, based on more than four years of multi-band ($g$, $r$, $i$, $z$) light-curves in the Pan-STARRS Medium Deep Fields. As photons from different bands emerge from different radial ranges in the accretion disk, the lags constrain the sizes of the accretion disks. We select 240 quasars with redshifts $z \approx 1$ or $z \approx 0.3$ that are relatively emission line free. The light curves are sampled from day to month timescales, which makes it possible to detect lags on the scale of the light crossing time of the accretion disks. With the code JAVELIN, we detect typical lags of several days in the rest frame between the $g$ band and the $riz$ bands. The detected lags are $\sim 2-3$ times larger than the light crossing time estimated from the standard thin disk model, consistent with the recently measured lag in NGC5548 and micro-lensing measurements of quasars. The lags in our sample are found to increase with increasing luminosity. Furthermore, the increase in lags going from $g-r$ to $g-i$ and then to $g-z$ is slower than predicted in the thin disk model, particularly for high luminosity quasars. The radial temperature profile in the disk must be different from what is assumed. We also find evidence that the lags decrease with increasing line ratios between ultraviolet FeII lines and MgII, which may point to changes in the accretion disk structure at higher metallicity.