Testing the extended corona model with the optical/UV reverberation mapping of the accretion disk

TL;DR

This study investigates whether UV-optical reverberation mapping can distinguish between simple point-like and extended corona models in accretion disks, finding limited sensitivity to the corona's vertical structure under typical conditions.

Contribution

The paper introduces a two-lamp extended corona model and compares its predictions with the traditional lamppost model, assessing the impact on reverberation mapping measurements.

Findings

Maximum 20% difference in wavelength-dependent delay curves between models.

No measurable difference in ICCF profiles for typical black hole parameters.

Larger black hole mass and lower Eddington ratio could reveal more differences.

Abstract

The illumination of the accretion disks is frequently studied assuming that the incident X-ray flux is a point-like source. The approach is referred as lamppost model.The most recent computations of the X-ray reprocessing by the disk take into account the departure from the simple lamppost models. However, in computations of the incident flux thermalization and subsequent re-emission in the optical-UV band the lamppost approximation is most frequently assumed. We test if the UV-optical reverberation mapping and time delay measurements are sensitive to this assumption. We assume that the incident radiation originates from a region extended along the symmetry axis. To model this, we adopt a simple setup by representing the emission as two lamps irradiating the disk simultaneously from two different heights. We then compare the resulting predictions with those obtained for a single lamppost located at an intermediate height. We show at the basis of the transfer function that the deviation of the wavelength-dependent delay curve shows at most a difference of 20% in comparison to a single lamppost, assuming the black hole mass of $10^8 M_{\odot}$, Eddington ratio 1, and the location of the lamps at 5 and 100 r$g$. The maximum deviation happens for the lamp luminosity ratio $\sim3$. When simulating light curves for a two-lamp setup and a standard lamppost with the same black hole mass and a sampling rate of 0.1 days, we find no measurable differences in the ICCF profiles between the two setups. Larger black hole mass and considerably lower Eddington ratio would allow to see larger differences between a single lamppost and a two-lampost model. UV/optical reverberation mapping is not very sensitive to the vertical extension of the corona.