Radio-variability in radio-quiet quasars and low-luminosity agn
Sep, 20009 pages
Published in:
- ASP Conf.Ser. 224 (2001) 265
e-Print:
- astro-ph/0009457 [astro-ph]
Report number:
- HFA-EPRINT-NO-40
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Abstract: (arXiv)
We report on two surveys of radio-weak AGN to look for radio variability. We find significant variability with an RMS of 10-20% on a timescale of months in radio-quiet and radio-intermediate quasars. This exceeds the variability of radio cores in radio-loud quasars (excluding blazars), which vary only on a few percent level. The variability in radio-quiet quasars confirms that the radio emission in these sources is indeed related to the AGN. The most extremely variable source is the radio-intermediate quasar III Zw 2 which was recently found to contain a relativistic jet. In addition we find large amplitude variabilities (up to 300% peak-to-peak) in a sample of nearby low-luminosity AGN, Liners and dwarf-Seyferts, on a timescale of 1.5 years. The variability could be related to the activity of nuclear jets responding to changing accretion rates. Simultaneous radio/optical/X-ray monitoring also for radio-weak AGN, and not just for blazars, is therefore a potentially powerful tool to study the link between jets and accretion flows.References(22)
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