A new approach for measuring power spectra and reconstructing time series in active galactic nuclei. (26th February 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Yan-Rong; Wang, Jian-Min
• Is Part Of: Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Volume 476:Number 1(2018:May)
• Page Start: L55
• Page End: L59
• Publication Date: 2018-02-26
• Subjects: methods: data analysis -- methods: statistical -- galaxies: active; Astronomy -- Research -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 520.5
• DOI: 10.1093/mnrasl/sly028
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1745-3933

Abstract

Abstract: We provide a new approach to measure power spectra and reconstruct time series in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) based on the fact that the Fourier transform of AGN stochastic variations is a series of complex Gaussian random variables. The approach parametrizes a stochastic series in frequency domain and transforms it back to time domain to fit the observed data. The parameters and their uncertainties are derived in a Bayesian framework, which also allows us to compare the relative merits of different power spectral density models. The well-developed fast Fourier transform algorithm together with parallel computation enables an acceptable time complexity for the approach.