Small telescopes being effective: MAGIC or not?

Afanasiev, Victor L; Malygin, Eugene A; Shablovinskaya, Elena S; Uklein, Roman I; Amirkhanyan, Vladimir R; Perepelitsyn, Alexander E; Afanasieva, Irina V

doi:10.1093/rasti/rzad045

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 22 publications

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“…LoTerm AGN observations are organized and facilitated in collaboration with the following telescopes located worldwide (Table 1): (1) A 1 m Zeiss telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, equipped with MAGIC focal reducer used in a long-slit spectroscopic mode [61,62]; (2) a 6 m BTA telescope (Big Telescope Alt-azimuth) of SAO, equipped with multi-mode focal reducers, SCORPIO-1 [63] and SCORPIO-2 [64], which are used in the long-slit spectroscopic mode, the latter used occasionally through target of opportunity (ToO) programs in case objects are noticed to show a peculiar variability; (3) a 2.1 m telescope of the Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (INAOE) at the Guillermo Haro Observatory (GHO) at Cananea, Sonora (Mexico), equipped with a Boller & Chivens spectrograph, within the guaranteed time; (4) a 1.8 m Copernico telescope of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) Astronomical Observatory of Padova (OAPd) atop Mount Ekar (Italy), equipped with Asiago Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera (AFOSC); (5) a 1.2 m Galileo telescope (OAPd) recently refurbished [65], equipped with the Boller & Chivens spectrograph, and within a guaranteed time; (6) a 1.4 m Milanković telescope of the Astronomical Station Vidojevica (ASV) within the Astronomical Observatory Belgrade (Serbia), for which the installation of stellar spectrograph [66] is currently under consideration; and (7) a 1.5 m T150 telescope of the Observatory Sierra Nevada (OSN), Granada (Spain), for which a spectrograph installation is currently under consideration. Table 1 lists the instruments and gratings currently used on the telescope involved in the LoTerm AGN campaign.…”

Section: Observations Data Reduction and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Term Optical Monitoring of Broad-Line AGNs (LoTerm AGN): Case Study of NGC 3516

Ilić,

Popović,

Burenkov

et al. 2023

Physics

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Properties of the broad line region (BLR) in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) are commonly used to estimate the mass of the supermassive black hole (SMBH) that powers an AGN. However, the understanding of the physics behind the BLR remains incomplete. The AGNs exhibit strong optical variability, observed in the change of the profiles and fluxes of broad emission lines. Utilizing this variability provides an opportunity to constrain the physics of the BLR, and understand the interplay of the BLR with SMBH and surrounding regions. Here, we present the long-term monitoring campaign of a sample of the known broad-line AGNs (identified as LoTerm AGN). The aim of this study is to show the importance of sustained and dedicated campaigns that continually collect spectroscopic data of the known AGNs over extended timescales, providing unique insight into the origin and structure of the BLR. LoTerm AGN is a collaborative network of seven moderate-size telescopes equipped for spectroscopy. We focus on the recent spectral data of the known changing-look AGN, NGC 3516. Specifically, we examine the broad hydrogen Balmer Hα line observed in the period 2020–2023, demonstrating that this AGN remains active with the BLR signatures observed in the spectra. No significant change in the broad line profile of Hα line is observed during this recent period.

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Section: Observations Data Reduction and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Term Optical Monitoring of Broad-Line AGNs (LoTerm AGN): Case Study of NGC 3516

Ilić,

Popović,

Burenkov

et al. 2023

Physics

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Testing particle acceleration in blazar jets with continuous high-cadence optical polarization observations

Liodakis,

Kiehlmann,

Marscher

et al. 2024

A&A

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Variability can be the pathway to understanding the physical processes in astrophysical jets. However, the high-cadence observations required to test particle acceleration models are still missing. Here we report on the first attempt to produce continuous, $>24$ hour polarization light curves of blazars using telescopes distributed across the globe, following the rotation of the Earth, to avoid the rising Sun. Our campaign involved 16 telescopes in Asia, Europe, and North America. We observed BL Lacertae and CGRaBS J0211+1051 for a combined 685 telescope hours. We find large variations in the polarization degree and angle for both sources on sub-hour timescales as well as a $ rotation of the polarization angle in CGRaBS J0211+1051 in less than two days. We compared our high-cadence observations to particle-in-cell magnetic reconnection and turbulent plasma simulations. We find that although the state-of-the-art simulation frameworks can produce a large fraction of the polarization properties, they do not account for the entirety of the observed polarization behavior in blazar jets.

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Polarimetric Reverberation Mapping in Medium-Band Filters

et al. 2023

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Earlier, we suggested the “reload” concept of the polarimetric reverberation mapping of active galactic nuclei (AGN), proposed for the first time more than 10 years ago. We have successfully tested this approach of reverberation mapping of the broad emission line on the galaxy Mrk 6. It was shown that such an idea allows one to look at the AGN central parsec structure literally in a new light. However, the method originally assumed the use of spectropolarimetric observations, expensive in terms of telescope time, and implemented on rare large telescopes. Currently, we propose an adaptation of the polarimetric reverberation mapping of broad lines in medium-band filters following the idea of the photometric reverberation mapping, when filters are selected so that their bandwidth is oriented to the broad line and the surrounding continuum near. In this paper, we present the progress status of such monitoring conducted jointly at the Special astrophysical observatory and Asiago Cima Ekar observatory (OAPd/INAF) with support from Rozhen National Astronomical Observatory (NAO), some first results for the most frequently observed AGNs Mrk 335, Mrk 509, and Mrk 817, and the discussion of the future perspectives of the campaign.

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Small telescopes being effective: MAGIC or not?

Cited by 3 publications

References 22 publications

Long-Term Optical Monitoring of Broad-Line AGNs (LoTerm AGN): Case Study of NGC 3516

Long-Term Optical Monitoring of Broad-Line AGNs (LoTerm AGN): Case Study of NGC 3516

Testing particle acceleration in blazar jets with continuous high-cadence optical polarization observations

Polarimetric Reverberation Mapping in Medium-Band Filters

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