First detection of the outer edge of an AGN accretion disc: Very fast multiband optical variability of NGC 4395 with GTC/HiPERCAM and LT/IO:O

TL;DR

This study presents the fastest multiband optical variability observations of NGC 4395, revealing an outer edge of the accretion disc and providing evidence for disc truncation, which impacts reverberation lag modeling.

Contribution

First detection of the outer edge of an AGN accretion disc using very fast multiband photometry and lag measurements, highlighting the importance of disc truncation in models.

Findings

gs lags us by a large amount, indicating disc reprocessing

Evidence for a truncated accretion disc with an outer radius ~1700 Rg

Disc truncation should be included in reverberation lag modeling.

Abstract

We present fast (~200s sampling) ugriz photometry of the low mass AGN NGC 4395 with the Liverpool Telescope, followed by very fast (3s sampling) us, gs, rs, is and zs simultaneous monitoring with HiPERCAM on the 10.4m GTC. These observations provide the fastest ever AGN multiband photometry and very precise lag measurements. Unlike in all other AGN, gs lags us by a large amount, consistent with disc reprocessing but not with reprocessing in the Broad Line Region (BLR). There is very little increase in lag with wavelength at long wavelengths, indicating an outer edge (Rout) to the reprocessor. We have compared truncated disc reprocessing models to the combined HiPERCAM and previous X-ray/UV lags. For the normally accepted mass of 3.6E5 solar, we obtain reasonable agreement with zero spin, Rout ~1700 Rg, and the DONE physically-motivated temperature-dependent disc colour correction factor (fcol). A smaller mass of 4E4 solar can only be accomodated if fcol=2.4, which is probably unrealistically high. Disc self gravity is probably unimportant in this low mass AGN but an obscuring wind may provide an edge. For the small mass the dust sublimation radius is similar to Rout, so the wind could be dusty. However for the more likely large mass the sublimation radius is further out so the optically-thick base of a line-driven gaseous wind is more likely. The inner edge of the BLR is close to Rout in both cases. These observations provide the first good evidence for a truncated AGN disc and caution that truncation should be included in reverberation lag modelling.